


Total System Reboot

by MitsubachiAria



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Mentions of Character Death, Momota Kaito & Oma Kokichi Are Siblings, No straight people in danganronpa, Post-Canon, Someone please give Shuichi a hug, Very minor celesgiri, it's post canon but also canon's body had been discovered do you get me, murder mysteries without the murder, talent swap AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:33:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26890708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MitsubachiAria/pseuds/MitsubachiAria
Summary: After leaving the Killing Game with Maki and Himiko, Shuichi wakes up in an unfamiliar school, surrounded by his former "classmates", but everyone, including himself, is much different than he knew them.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede & Saihara Shuichi, Amami Rantaro/Shirogane Tsumugi, Chabashira Tenko/Yumeno Himiko, Harukawa Maki & Momota Kaito, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 89
Kudos: 229





	1. Shuichi 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hahaha so I'm finally writing this. Full credit to my bestie SlowpokeCurry for making this AU together. Idk if this will be just a nice short horror oneshot or a longer series or what, but I really just wanted to write at least something for this AU, because I'm fond of it.

0 0 1 

Everything felt fuzzy, like static drowning out his thoughts. Shuichi had no idea where he was, but the bed he was in was too comfortable to be the one he remembered. His sheets were perfectly neat, as if he’d just appeared there instead of tossing and turning all night as he usually did. His head and throat both ached, but mostly everything just felt numb.

What was the last thing he could remember? Tsumugi, the trial, Keebo, rejecting the sick game and whatever he’d been in his past… He, Maki, and Himiko all stood to face the world together, but after that, nothing. It was as if the world stopped existing after that moment, as if nothing at all could possibly come after that. It was as if it had all been a nightmare, and now he was waking up.

But that couldn’t be possible. Aside from it all seeming so real, this room definitely wasn’t his. It was immaculately clean, but not in the lifeless way a hotel room was. There were photos he couldn’t make out with his eyes half open, and some various random objects like some crystals he might have seen among Himiko or Angie’s things, and an oversized plush fox sitting on a shelf. 

Sitting up, he tried to get his bearings, looking down at himself. He didn’t even recognize the pajamas he wore- some elegant buttoned shirt with matching pants, where he’d normally just throw on an oversized t-shirt. But, in a vanity mirror across the room, he could make out his own figure, hair as unruly as ever, if not a bit longer than he remembered it. Unmistakably himself, but unmistakably different.

He forced himself to look at the bedside table, knowing his eyes would have to meet the photo on it eventually. He could only tell himself the half empty water glass was enough to look at for a brief moment, or the digital alarm clock reading 8:09. No, he had to face the photo, but he was terrified of what he’d see in this strange room. If this truly was a sick joke, what would it be? A framed picture of a blood spattered piano or hydraulic press? 

Somehow, what it actually was made him feel even more sick. It was a picture of five very familiar faces, including his own. It was of a sunny day where he was sitting outside some fancy building, smiling in some outfit far too nice for him to ever wear himself. Kaede stood beside him, smiling brightly, wearing a jacket that would look more at home on someone in a PE class than the Ultimate Pianist. Kokichi was sitting beside him, leaning on him and smirking- same as always but he seemed so much more casual, just wearing a pretty normal looking school uniform rather than the pretentiously overdone getup he normally did. Maki was there too, squinting like the sun was in her eyes, looking as unamused as always but without the laser focus in her eyes. And, Kaito was there too, leaning over the bench, grinning like he always did but dressed in black. 

His hands shook as he picked up the picture frame to look at it closer. Was this edited? Was it of that old life Tsumugi insisted they’d sprung from? And who had taken this picture? Had it been put here to mock him, as a fleeting image of the happy, peaceful life none of them could ever have? His eyes burned and his stomach churned, but mostly he felt disgusted. It had ended, he had refused to play, but clearly someone wasn’t done playing with him. He just wanted it to stop, why couldn’t he just have peace? Or at the very least, an ending?

Something had to be done- he needed to investigate this, as much as he hated the idea. He forced himself to his feet, slipped on the slippers sitting next to the bed, put there far too nicely to have been his own doing, and approached the door. Would it not open? Or shock him when he tried? Hesitantly, he touched the doorknob and tried to throw it open as quickly as possible. 

To his slight relief, it opened like a perfectly ordinary door did, into a hallway marked with room numbers. Was this some sort of dormitory? Or was it a hotel after all? For a brief moment, he wondered if he’d just had some strange memory lapse caused by trauma before remembering the photo. Something had to be going on here, and he had to figure it out. He didn’t have a choice in that. 

He followed the hallway until it met a sitting room of some sort. It definitely looked as if someone had recently been using it- a book was lying open on a coffee table, and a laptop covered in cutesy stickers sat next to it, but no one was there. A cold shiver ran down his back, but he decided to take a look at the book. He didn’t understand a word of it- not because it was in a language he didn’t understand, but rather it seemed to be about coding. For a brief moment, he wondered if it were Miu’s before remembering she was dead. 

Part of him wanted to look at the laptop too, but he didn’t want to pry unless he absolutely had to, so he continued down the hall. It looked almost like a school- not the sorry excuse for one Monokuma ran, but an actual school where actual students might live and study. A few of the doors were slightly ajar, and he could see what looked like classrooms. 

Worryingly, the buzz of idle chatter began filling his ears the further he went. So other people were here? Was that worse or better? Maybe Maki and Himiko would be among them, if he was lucky, and they’d be able to tell him what the hell was going on. He headed towards the noise, and could make out what looked like a cafeteria, with a few people eating and chattering. But, the closer he got, the more he wanted to turn back. 

A few familiar voices started filling the air, and a few familiar faces stood out in the crowd. Faces that shouldn’t be here, voices no one would ever hear again. He stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed Gonta’s unmistakable figure, clad in an apron and chattering with Angie, whose hair was pulled back into a braid. 

His breaths began coming out shaky and frantic. No, no, this wasn’t possible. His eyes darted back and forth across the room, begging his vision to be false. Instead, he noticed Kirumi yawning as Korekiyo animatedly told her something or other, and Rantaro asleep next to a plate of food that Miu was stealing a strip of bacon off of. 

Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, some twisted hallucination- whatever he was seeing, it didn’t make sense. He’d seen some of these people die right in front of him, and investigated the dead bodies of the others. None of these people could be here, and yet, there they were, and here he was. He felt frozen. He wanted to run, but he wasn’t sure if it would be towards or away from these spectres. 

Before he could make a decision, he heard a voice that just about made his heart stop all together. “Shuichi? Are you okay?”

His eyes met the pink ones that haunted his dreams. “K-Kaede,” he almost whispered. His entire body felt cold as she frowned at him, standing all too close to his face. She was dressed similarly to in that photo, in sweats and a sporty jacket, and holding a water bottle in one hand while the other was drawn towards his forehead.

Her touch wasn’t as ice cold as he would have expected a living ghost’s to be. Instead, she was just… kind of warm and sweaty, actually. “You okay?” Kaede asked, but he could barely hear her voice over a loud pounding filling his head. “You look really pale. And why are you in your pajamas?”

“What’s going on,” he demanded of her, voice trembling and weak. “Where are we, why are you here?”

Kaede’s eyes widened, her hand pulling away. “What do you mean? We’re at Hope’s Peak, I just got back from my morning run. Seriously, what’s wrong?”

Hope’s Peak, he recalled the name as the place the Killing Games had all begun. Why would they be there, the place never even existed, right? Even if it did, why would they be there? Morning run, that part was weird too. Kaede never seemed like the athletic type, so why would she take a run in the morning? And on a school day, from the looks of it?

“You- you can’t- all of you…” He started backing away, shaking like he’d been dunked into ice water. “You’re not…”

“Allow me to assess his current state!” Heavy clanks started towards him, and his eyes landed on someone who was unmistakably Keebo. He’d just seen him explode, how could he be here, rushing towards him as if he was the one to worry about? 

This was all too much. His head began to feel light. The room was spinning around him. Shuichi fell to the floor, blackness filling his vision as voices melted together into an indistinguishable blob. 


	2. Shuichi 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To everyone's surprise, including my own, I genuinely couldn't stop writing after the first chapter. I don't know how long this fic will be, but I do want to write more of it, so I hope people enjoy it!

0 0 2

A slurry of voices greeted his returning consciousness: 

“No! I told you, one at a time!”

“Come on, I’m good with taking care of people! I can like, help you and shit!”

“What if he needs an exorcism!”

“Guys, seriously, I think he’s like, sick so I don’t-”

“Oh shut up, my immune system could bench press you!”

“With those twig arms?”

Shuichi’s head pounded from the cacophony. “Ow…” He mumbled, not wanting to look up. Things were a little fuzzy- he remembered… ah. Right. Everyone who’d died was right in front of him. Kaede and Keebo, he must have passed out in front of them. 

Looking up, he could see the blurry but unmistakable form of Keebo standing in front of a door in what looked like some sort of school nurse’s office. He seemed to be attempting to block some people from entering, but he couldn’t see very well who they were. Though, from all the shouting, he could make a decent guess…

Keebo finally noticed him as he was attempting to sit up, and rushed to his side. He noticed now he was laying on a cot of some sort, with an ice pack about to fall off his head. “You’re awake! You gave us quite the scare when you passed out. Here.” 

He was handed a carton of orange juice with a straw, and Keebo guided him to sit up a bit, putting pillows behind him. “This should help, though I must admit I don’t quite know what your affliction is. You had a high fever when we brought you in, and Kaede said you’d been saying things that didn’t make sense, but it doesn’t appear you had a stroke or anything of the sort. If anything, your symptoms seem more consistent with the common flu other than-”

“I told you! He’s definitely possessed!” The voice crying that out was unmistakably familiar, as was the person who burst into the room. Kaito, precious friend and Luminary of the Stars, who would not be rushing towards someone he thought was possessed in a million years. He was wearing black like in the photo, and his normal jacket was replaced with a cape, looking more like someone you’d see on stage than in a school. 

Keebo looked as if he were attempting to roll his eyes. “Possession is not a recognized affliction. It seems far more likely he got disoriented by his fever. Besides, he shouldn’t even be having visitors right now! I need to examine him now that he’s awake.”

Kaito didn’t seem to hear a word Keebo said, as he rushed straight to Shuichi’s side. “I know you can fight this, Shuichi! I know you’re in there, and your spirit is stronger than-”

Kaede pushed him aside with surprising strength. “Oh, leave him alone. If he’s possessed, we can deal with that when he feels better,” she said, directing a stern frown at him. “He can’t fight off a ghost if he’s coming down from a fever.”

He was just staring blankly at the scene, holding his orange juice. It was clear no one saw anything odd in this situation other than his behavior, so he definitely couldn’t tell them that he had seen the three of them die. Should he just pass it off like nothing was wrong and he’d just been disoriented like Keebo said? Probably the best plan. He’d play along for now and try to keep his cool.

“I-I’m fine, really,” he assured them. “I didn’t realize what time it was and I was trying to find some ice for my head. I thought it was the middle of the night, I guess.” That would check out- the curtains in his room were thick enough to block out the light and if he’d not checked the clock or run into anyone on his way, he could easily have thought that, surely. 

Kaede’s expression softened a bit- it seemed she bought that. “Oh, I see. You could have come to my room! I have some pain killers in my bathroom for muscle cramps, but some of them help with fevers!”

Crap. Uh… “I didn’t think you were allowed to have those in your room,” he said, glancing around nervously. 

Keebo shot a glare at Kaede. “You aren’t,” he said sharply. “You do not have permission for that, nor do you have permission to share it. I recommend you bring those in here if you do not want to be written up for it.”

“Oh, come on! Are you seriously going to get that way over some Ibuprofen?” Kaede crossed her arms. Shuichi glanced around the room- there were three people in here, but hadn’t he heard another voice as he was waking up? Had he just been hearing things, or had Kokichi been talking too?

“Unless you want me to inform Angie, I recommend you go bring those in here,” Keebo threatened. What did Angie have to do with it? She didn’t seem like the type who would care in the slightest, but then again, why would Kaede need them in the first place? Was playing piano more strenuous than he’d realized? 

No, something else had to be in play- too much was too specifically deviating from what he expected. Kaito didn’t seem scared in the slightest bit about the imagined possibility of ghosts, Kaede was taking morning runs in some sports wear, and Keebo was manning the nurse’s office. Was it possible that his classmates had changed more than just being not dead? Were these even the people he had known?

Kaede left in a huff, trying to drag Kaito out with her. “Come on, he needs to rest anyways,” she told Kaito. “We can check on him later. Just, keep me updated, alright? I’ll leave the stuff at the office or whatever.”

Kaito tried to resist her pull. “Wait, I’m not- come on, Shu, don’t you want us to stay?”

That was a good question, really. As much as he’d love to catch up with his executed friends, he still had no clue what was going on, and was pretty sure saying “I saw you both die” wasn’t about to go over well. So, he offered an apologetic smile instead. “Sorry, I’m kind of tired, I’d rather rest, if it’s all the same to you.”

“Oh, sorry,” Kaito glanced around the room as if looking for something. “Ugh, where did he wander off to, anyways?”

“Who knows with him,” Kaede said, already starting out the door. “Keebo, just tell him to leave if he comes back, I guess.” 

This nebulous “him” was probably Kokichi- he must have heard him after all. Maybe he just got bored and left, or something of the sort. Or, knowing him, maybe he was lying in wait, eavesdropping for whatever reason. Great, one more uncertainty to add to the pile. As the other two left, Keebo glanced around the room as well, as if his suspicions were the same. 

“If you are still here, I would recommend you leave,” Keebo announced loudly. The room remained silent. He sighed. “He can be annoying sometimes…” 

Shuichi couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Tell me about it,” he mumbled. “But, I guess it doesn’t matter. What was it you wanted of me?”

“I just need to properly assess your symptoms so I know how to treat you,” Keebo reported, a strange sensor showing itself in the palm of his hand. “May I take your temperature?”

“What- oh, certainly.” He kept saying things kind of weird, why was that? It felt like a reflex, almost. 

Keebo’s hand met his forehead, and a little beep came from him. He frowned. “It’s only a mild fever… At least it came down quickly- you were at concerning levels while you were unconscious. I was afraid you would need to be hospitalized.”

“Oh, uh, that’s good, that I’m not that bad, I mean,” he said, stumbling over the words. He was a bit distracted by the fact he had no idea Keebo could do that. Was that new, or was that always one of his abilities? 

“Yes yes, ah, I’m unsure if my systems are fully equipped for this diagnostic,” he said, shaking his head a bit. “Sincerest apologies, but I don’t want to misdiagnose, and I’m unsure what exactly is going on. I’m going to find the real nurse- even if it’s my talent, I’m not as experienced as a professional.” 

He ran off, leaving Shuichi to ponder his reference to “talent”. Did he mean he was the Ultimate Nurse instead of Ultimate Robot? Did that even entirely make sense? Maybe if he was a medical robot- that would explain the temperature scanner. Maybe that was the big difference he was sensing. Maybe Kaede was actually in some sort of sport instead of being a pianist, and something or other was up with Kaito. 

Part of him wanted to get up to take notes on things, but he didn’t see a notepad anywhere around here, and he couldn’t really leave if he was waiting for the school nurse. So what, was he just supposed to wait? Try to ponder things out here in silence? He felt a chill running down his body, but wasn’t sure if it was dread or the fever. 

Then, one of the cabinet doors suddenly swung open, and Shuichi tried to suppress a shocked scream that came out more like a breathy squeak than anything. Unsurprisingly, it was Kokichi, and his surprise turned more to dull annoyance, and then back to nerves. So he was still here, but why had he hid out until the two of them were alone? 

The trickster perched at the end of the cot, a determined frown on his face. He stared at Shuichi in silence for too long before he felt obligated to end the silence. “Uh… hey? What are you doing?”

It took another few painfully long moments for Kokichi to speak. “You aren’t concussed, that’s one of the first things he checked for,” he remarked. “And Kaede said you asked where you were- that doesn’t check out with the story you gave her. Considering my brother’s usually full of shit, I doubt you’re possessed either.”

Brother? He was clearly referring to Kaito, but he had no idea why he would call him that. He tried hard to suppress the surprise on his face, but feared it didn’t exactly work, as a moment after he said that, Kokichi’s determined frown turned to a slight smile. Had he just said that to throw him off? That sounded right.

“What are you getting at?” he asked Kokichi. “I know how you are, you’re definitely up to something.”

And the smile was gone, turned to a blankly unamused scowl. “Oh, so that like… wasn’t a joke. Did I seriously piss you off? What did I do?”

“I mean… nothing in particular, I’m just not in the mood to deal with your antics right now,” he said, hoping it would dissuade him.

Of course, it did nothing of the sort. Kokichi just leaned a bit closer to him. “Hey, Shuichi, what’s my Ultimate Talent?” He asked with a sly smile. 

Shit. Shitshitshit. He was on to him. Of course it would be him of all people. “Uh, Ultimate Supreme Leader?”

Kokichi snickered. “What? That’s not even- okay, then, what’s Kaede’s?”

“Ultimate… Runner?” That was his best guess based on what she’d said. Probably wrong, but he had a feeling whatever he said, he was probably screwed. 

“That’s… closer, at least,” he mused. “And yours?”

“Ultimate Detective,” he said without hesitation. He suspected it wasn’t correct in this world, but it was his own talent. 

The look he got from saying that was more like he’d said he was the Ultimate Alien. “Seriously? Okay, yeah, this isn’t amnesia, this is something else. Are you even my Shumai?” He poked his cheek. 

Of course he of all people would be the one to catch on. Ironically, he couldn’t lie to him right now. “I don’t think so,” he admitted. “I am Shuichi, if that’s what you mean, but I…”

He closed his eyes for a moment, the vision of blood splattered against a hydraulic press filling his mind. “You died. All of you did. You and Kaito sacrificed yourselves for us and Maki.” 

“Wh-what?” He’d caught Kokichi off guard, judging by the way his eyes widened. “Kaede said you looked like you’d seen a ghost when you saw her in the cafeteria, but I didn’t think that was literal.”

A hand rested on his cheek, and Kokichi’s eyes softened. “Hey, it’s okay, we’ll figure this out,” he assured him with the sincerity he’d never heard in his voice dripping from every word. 

Shuichi’s eyes burned a bit. He felt confused- where was all this softness coming from? Kokichi must have been entirely different in this world, huh? Could he really trust him? Did he even have a choice? 

He wanted to trust him. He didn’t want to face this alone, so if someone was offering to help, even if he didn’t entirely trust them, he needed to accept that. “Thank you,” he almost whispered. 

Just when he was about to ask him to tell him more about this world, he could hear footsteps approaching. Kokichi’s face fell. “Shit, uh, I should go. Meet me in my room after this, okay? I’ll skip class today. I’m room 228, I’ll leave it unlocked.”

Before he could respond, Kokichi hugged him and then rushed towards the window, opening it with surprising speed and climbing out of it. He was left staring in astonishment at the whole thing. This was the person he had to trust, huh? Not even Maki or Himiko…

His heart stopped for a moment. Maki and Himiko, were they in the same predicament he was? He needed to find them as soon as he could, or at least once he was done dealing with the nurse. He needed to know if they remembered anything. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also like, if anyone wants to guess what the talents are, that would be cool? Other than my friends who already know, you guys are disqualified >:3


	3. Shuichi 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Went ahead and added the ship tags to the story. The ships won't really go beyond subtext for a good while, but I thought it was better to go ahead and add them so people will know what to expect in the future in terms of that. There's a couple more ships that might get hinted at, but the three tagged as ships are the only major ones, so those are the only ones going in the ship tag.

0 0 3

The nurse didn’t seem to think anything was terribly wrong with him, just gave him a note and told him to go lay down in his room for a while, and that she’d make sure one of his classmates took notes for him. He thanked her and left, grateful he didn’t have to refer to her by name at any point because he’d never seen the lady in his life. Of course, it wasn’t his room he’d be going back to, but accepting Kokichi’s invitation, only partially because he’d not remembered to note what room number his own was. 

Well, talking to Kokichi wasn’t exactly his first priority, but he wouldn’t know where to find Maki or Himiko anyhow. He could ask him where to find the two, maybe, since he was currently the only lead he had on anything here. No one else would ever believe what had happened, and he certainly didn’t want to worry anyone. But, Kokichi had flat out asked him if he were the Shuichi everyone here knew. Maybe he knew something, or more likely he was just observant. 

Room 228, that would be up a flight of stairs, right? Second floor, probably. Maybe his body was actually getting unwell from all that had happened, because it felt far too difficult to climb up the stairwell. He has to stop to catch his breath at the top before continuing down the hall. Why would he be getting sick? Was this body rejecting his presence or something? He assumed the fever was just his own panic, but maybe he wasn’t doing well. 

The room numbers were hard to follow, so he got turned around a fair bit looking for 228. Before he could even figure out if he was in the right area, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, expecting a smug purple-haired grin making fun of his lack of directional sense, but instead found someone he hadn’t expected to find without looking. 

“Himiko!” He smiled at the sight. Finally, someone else who might be in the same boat as him. She looked like she’d just gotten out of bed, not even dressed yet and with a sleepy frown on her face. “Finally, I’ve been hoping to find you!”

The red haired mage put her hands on her hips and scowled. “Then why didn’t you come like you promised,” she demanded. 

“H-huh?” He jumped a bit in surprise. “What- what do you mean?” Ugh, did she not remember either? He shouldn’t be upset that she couldn’t remember seeing all her friends die, but he’d really expected her to. Did that mean Maki wouldn’t remember?

She pouted. “You promised… And you forgot too? I thought you were supposed to be the Ultimate Butler! What kind of Butler abandons a fair damsel in her time of need?”

Butler?! What? Was that what his talent was supposed to be? Kokichi had acted weird when he said he was the Ultimate Detective, so he shouldn’t have been surprised no one else would know him as that. But Butler? Like, how Kirumi was the Ultimate Maid? He could barely keep his own room clean, how was he supposed to clean up after others? 

“I- uh, sorry, uh…” He was sputtering, unable to move forward in his thoughts. He glanced around, hoping he’d ended up near Kokichi’s room. Ah, there! 228, right by him. He casually leaned on the door and knocked on it, hoping it would get him to open up and come bail him out here. “I was headed to go talk to Kokichi!” He practically shouted that last part, in hopes he’d be heard. 

Himiko glared at the door. “Oh, so you were knocking off to spend time with Ouma? I thought better of you, Saihara.” 

“I-I’m sorry, I just, uh…” He looked pleadingly at the door, willing it to open. Was he being pranked or something? Of all the times-

Thankfully, the door snapped open, and he managed to regain his balance before falling. “Hey, knock it off, your Royal Bratness,” Kokichi huffed. “He’s sick, and I offered to keep him company while he recovers.”

She just frowned. “Oh… sorry! I was being rude. Can you help me when you feel better, then?”

“Y-yeah, of course!” Shuichi exclaimed, having no clue what he was promising. “I should go, I don’t want to get you sick too.”

He slipped into Kokichi’s room, closing the door behind him with a sigh. It was as much of a chaotic mess as he remembered, just without any life sized wax effigies hanging from the ceiling. “That… didn’t go well…” he mumbled, more to himself than anything. 

“Why didn’t you just tell her you were sick?” Kokichi asked. “That would have been a way better excuse.”

Maybe he was right- okay, definitely he was right, but Shuichi tried to come up with a good response. “In my defense, I didn’t understand a word she was saying. For one, why did she call me the Ultimate Butler?”

Kokichi stared blankly at him for a moment before shaking his head. “Right, you said you’re the Ultimate Detective. Well, uh, this Shuichi is the Ultimate Butler. Kind of a way different talent, huh?”

“I-I’m sorry, _what_?” Like, seriously, what was going on in this world? He would think this was just Kokichi messing around had it not been for Himiko corroborating it. “Do you have like… a yearbook or something that would list all the talents?”

“Uh… somewhere in here, let me look.” Kokichi turned away from him, starting to clear off a desk covered in what looked like magazine clippings. “...I’m guessing we must not have been friends in what you remember, huh?”

Shuichi fell silent. “I… I guess not…” He wouldn’t have called him a friend, but he wasn’t really sure exactly what to call him. He wasn’t just a classmate, and not exactly an enemy. It was hard to really put a name to their relationship, whatever it had been. “I didn’t get much of a chance to know you in the Killing Game, or at least I never got to know what you were like in a regular situation.”

“Killing Game?” Kokichi repeated the words while still refusing to face him, pushing something into a drawer he couldn’t quite see. “You said we all died except like, you and Maki, right? Can you elaborate on that a bit?”

He really would rather not, but he of all people knew that it was important to get testimonies laid out. “How… much of this do you want?” he asked. 

Still not facing him, Kokichi held up a notebook and pen. “As much as you’re comfortable sharing.” 

Finding a relatively clutterless spot on the bed amongst papers and stuffed animals, he sat down and sighed. “Well, it started with me waking up in a locker in a strange school.”

He explained as much as he could without breaking down in tears. There was a lot to go over- Monokuma and the Monokubs, the murders and executions, the eventual truth of the matter… He definitely started crying at some point, but fought to keep his voice steady as Kokichi took notes. 

“And… then Keebo sacrificed himself so we could get out, and Tsumugi got crushed in the rubble. That’s… really all I remember before waking up here…” Once he finally finished, he found himself laying back on the bed, accidentally lying on a stuffed horse. He raised his head and moved it a bit, feeling bad. “And now I’m here. Telling everything to you.”

The noise of Kokichi dropping his pen on the table was his only warning before he found himself being hugged closely. “I’m sorry,” he said, sounding as if he were close to crying himself. “Shu… I’m so sorry…”

“Huh- why are you sorry?” And why was he hugging him? He wasn’t sure if he should return the hug or not, so he just sort of awkwardly patted his shoulder as best he could with the weight of a very bony guy laying on his arm. 

“You’re hurting, and I can’t help you…” Kokichi mumbled. “Plus like, it’s kind of upsetting for your best friend to not remember anything in general, but especially that you went through so much.”

“So…” He trailed off. What did he want to say? “So you believe me?” “So we were best friends?” “So you really are serious about wanting to help?”

The best he could settle on was a meek “I’m sorry I’m worrying you.”

That warranted a small chuckle, and Kokichi poked his cheek. “You, stop that. You’re always worried about that kind of stuff- you’re allowed to worry me, it’s fine, not something to apologize for. I guess that much hasn’t changed about you, huh?”

“Do I do that a lot?” He stared up at the ceiling, watching the ceiling fan rotating slowly. “...sounds like something Kaede would say.” 

A brief and awkward silence fell over them. “...maybe so,” Kokichi said softly. “I know you don’t really trust me, but I want to do all I can to help you. Even if I’m not your friend, you’re my friend. Even if you don’t remember, you’re still a lot like you were, even if I’m not… what you remember.”

It was really strange to hear him talk and not hear that edge of sly cunning in his words. A sincere Kokichi felt like an oxymoron. He was almost creeped out, but it was also nice to talk to him in a straightforward way for once. No mental gymnastics needed to keep up with him right now, just actual emotion.

“You’re not what I remember at all,” he admitted. “But, I didn’t know the real you very well either. I feel like I only saw a glimpse of him after he was already gone. I’d be happy to work with this you, if you’ll bear with me.”

He could see Kokichi smile out of the corner of his eye. “Course, I’ll do all I can,” he assured him. “Do you need anything?” 

“...I mean, I need to figure out how to act normal to everyone else so I don’t freak them out, because I doubt everyone will buy the fact I’m a different Shuichi than they all know,” he admitted. “Plus, I need to know why I’m here and I need to find Maki…”

“Maki? Oh, right, she didn’t die, so you think she’ll remember?” 

He shook his head. “If Himiko didn’t remember, and she definitely didn’t remember, I doubt she will. But, I need to check. Just in case.” 

“Alright. She’s probably in class right now, but I’ll ask her to bring you notes,” Kokichi said with a nod. “She takes them for Kaito anyways, it won’t be a big deal to make one more copy.”

The mental image of Maki copying notes for Kaito made him smile a bit- that seemed right, somehow. Like how he’d imagined things might be in a regular school for them. He was really relieved that they had some semblance of that- or at least he wanted to be. But, he was still nervous. Him being here wasn’t right- whatever this place was, he wasn’t supposed to be here. He needed to find a way to restore things to normal, somehow. 

Kokichi suddenly sat up. “Oh! Right, you need a yearbook, right? I was gonna find mine, give me a second.” He returned to the cluttered desk and threw one of the drawers open. Shuichi sat up to glance at the contents, trying to act as a second pair of eyes. He noticed a binder and what looked like an overturned picture frame in there, but no notebook. Kokichi opened a few more as well, with countless papers and pens and tidbits in there. Reminded him of every drawer he’d ever owned. 

“Ha! Here it is!” He held up a hardcover book with “Hope’s Peak Academy, 51st Class” printed on it. “This is last year’s, but all the people you mentioned are in second year with us, so it should be fine. 

So if they were first years when the 51st Class graduated, that made them the 53rd, right? He felt a chill run through him at that. There was a connection to be certain, but he hadn’t the slightest idea what connected this version of him to this world. Still, he took the yearbook with a slightly forced smile. “Thanks, this should help. Do- do you want me to go?”

“Only if you want to,” Kokichi said, shaking his head. 

“But, I am probably sick,” Shuichi countered. “I don’t think that would be a nice way to repay you for your help, by passing it on.”

A familiar chuckle came from his classmate. “Nah, I’m really good at not getting sick.”

“Is that what your talent is?” Shuichi joked. “I mean, if it’s not Supreme Leader-”

Kokichi opened the yearbook and pointed to his own picture. “Might as well be,” he said with a smirk.

Shuichi shuddered a bit as he read his talent, but couldn’t process why for a moment. “Ultimate Child Caregiver,” it almost made a degree of sense with Kokichi’s more toned down version of his mischievousness. He’d probably be good with kids, but that had been Maki’s fake talent, right? So, was it fake for him as well?

He looked up at this Kokichi, feeling a bit uneasy. If he was the Ultimate Assassin too, was this just a much better act? Was he not safe trusting him after all?

He thought back to that picture on his bedside table. Everyone had looked so happy. Kaito and Kaede certainly trusted being around him, so why shouldn’t he? Besides, despite her talent, Maki ended up being a great friend in her own right, so even if he was the Ultimate Assassin, he shouldn’t distrust him just because of that.

Sitting back on the bed, he opened the yearbook more properly. “Alright, let’s try to go over all of this.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't take Himiko's rude entrance as me disliking her, she's my favorite character in V3-
> 
> and lowkey i really do wanna hear any talent guesses anyone has i wanna know what the vibes are


	4. Shuichi 4

0 0 4

After going over all the talents, Shuichi decided it would be best to meet these new versions of his classmates in a sort of… controlled environment, for want of a better term. Kokichi came up with a pretty decent plan- he’d ask in the class’s group chat if anyone wanted to come see him in his room at lunch because he could use some company or whatever. He would talk to them on his own to just… slowly accustom himself back to how he’d usually interact with everyone so they’d not suspect something was more wrong than a mild fever. 

To his shock, a lot of people volunteered for this. Definitely more than he was expecting. He’d thought like, he’d get used to a couple people maximum this way, but over half the class had volunteered. Did people like him that much? Or were they just bored with nothing better to do? 

When asking Kokichi how this had happened, he just shrugged. “Look, you’re like, popular? People just like you a lot. When a guy is super nice, super pretty, can cook, smells nice, and cares a lot about people, that generally just draws people in.”

None of those words were things he would have ever described himself with, except maybe caring a lot about others. But, if that was how everyone thought of the him of this world, he hoped to be able to live up to that. “I… I see. Do you think I’ll be able to handle that many people on my own?”

Kokichi hummed in thought, looking around the room. “Oh! I know! I’ll hide out nearby and text you if you start looking lost! I can coach you through it if you start to choke!”

“Oh, right, I forgot I’d probably have a phone…” It had been so long since he’d had access to one he’d just sort of gotten used to not having it. But, one was plugged in beside his bed, so he unplugged it and put it in his lap. “Oh- wait, it has a password.” He tried the phone password he’d usually used back in what he could remember, not expecting it to work. It didn’t- unsurprising since his memories of the world outside the Killing Game had apparently all been fictional. 

“Here…” Kokichi typed in a few numbers- 0907- and it unlocked. Shuichi groaned internally- was his password really just his birthday? He’d have to change that. Kokichi seemed to notice the unamused look on his face and gave a sly grin. “I’m guessing Mister Detective had a better password than that, huh?”

“Yes, and he’s about to again,” he muttered, scrolling through the settings to find where to change the password. He hid it from view as Kokichi peered over. “No looking,” he said resolutely, and his classmate turned the other way. 

It would need to be something only he’d know the significance of, so 4253 it was. Easy enough to remember, and would keep in his mind the truth of his predicament. “Can I look back now?”, Kokichi asked. “They should be here soon anyways, we need to go over everything!”

“Yeah, I got it changed,” Shuichi said. “Uh, where exactly are you going to hide? There aren’t any cabinets in here…”

Kokichi started walking towards the closet door. “Oh, I’ll just not let anyone know I’m in the closet, it’ll be just like middle school!” He left it slightly ajar as he entered it. “See? You should be able to see me, but they won’t! That way I can signal if you need to check your phone!”

He could mostly see him, yes. He could notice him giving a thumbs up or gesturing at his own phone. But, with the way the room was situated, no one standing at the door would be able to notice, so it should work. “Yeah, I think this is a good plan,” he noted. “At least, it should work… Worst case scenario someone will ask why you’re in my closet, and I can just tell them you didn’t want to intrude but you’re keeping an eye on me.”

“Yeah, right, okay. Wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that goes on around here,” Kokichi agreed. “Lunch break just started, so people should be around any minute-”

A knock on the door interrupted him. He retreated further into the closet, and Shuichi called out to whoever it was to come in. He wasn’t sure who he expected to be first, but it wasn’t Gonta. A pang of guilt hit him- Gonta had been so kind, and didn’t deserve all that happened to him. No one did, but him more than most. 

The yearbook had said he was the Ultimate Cook- a far cry from the bug lover he once was, but he could see someone like him being good at making things for others. His hair was tied back, and he was carrying what looked like a takeout container, smiling gently at him. “How are you feeling?” Gonta asked. “Up to eating?”

“Oh!” He’d brought him food, that was really nice of him! His chest felt warm with the gesture. “Thank you so much! I’m not too hungry right now, but I’m sure I’ll appreciate it a lot when my stomach settles a bit!”

Gonta nodded. “Take your time- don’t eat until you feel ready. I look forward to cooking with you again when you’re feeling better, but until then, just leave it to me!” His speech patterns were pretty normal- made sense, considering how that whole raised by wolves (and/or dinosaurs?) thing was probably just a gag for the cameras, but it still sounded a bit strange to his ears. 

“I- I look forward to it too…” Kokichi did mention he could cook, and it made sense if he had Kirumi’s talent he would also have many of her skills, cooking included. He was a bit afraid of actually having to cook, considering about the only thing he could make was cup noodles and burnt toast, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it. 

Setting the take out container on his bedside, Gonta smiled widely at him, while Kokichi scampered further back into the closet. “I made sure to make all your favorites! Oh, and this shouldn’t get cold, but if you’re worried about that, you can always drink it now!” He sat a thermos beside the container. 

Unscrewing it, Shuichi recognized the scent with a smile. “Thank you!” He did really love tea, so he appreciated that hadn’t seemed to change here. He took a sip- it was really good tea, to be sure, but something tasted a bit off about it. He didn’t usually take it with any sugar, but there was a tiny bit in there, so perhaps that was it. It wasn’t anything to complain about of course- it was really nice of him! But, he had to wonder if that was how he took it here, or how Gonta made it. 

“I should go, I promised to bring Miu lunch in the music room, sorry!” Gonta apologized. “But, I hope you feel better!” He rushed off, and Shuichi let out a sigh. Him and Miu… he felt dread in the back of his throat before biting the inside of his cheek to remind himself things were different here. Miu was the Ultimate Musician here, after all, so that was evidence enough that the two of them weren’t as disastrous a combination as he might fear. 

Kokichi peeked out from the closet once Gonta’s footsteps were far away. “You alright, Shu? You look kind of… dizzy.”

“I’m fine,” he assured him. “Totally fine. Just… a little weird, but it’s-”

Someone else approached the door, and Kokichi slid back into the abyss of unfamiliar clothing. It took Shuichi a minute to recognize the girl in front of him. If not for the mole next to her lips, he’d think she was a stranger, but he could recognize her as Tenko once he noticed that. She looked completely different- slouched posture, less muscular physique, hair in two long braids instead of the weird double helixes, and a nervous, darting expression instead of a confident grin. The picture labelling her as the Ultimate Novelist hadn’t conveyed just how strange it would be to come face to face with this Tenko. 

“G-good afternoon, S-Shuichi Saihara,” she mumbled, refusing to make eye contact. Was that a different expression of her discomfort around men, or was she just really, really shy? “I- um, Lady Himiko asked me to come speak to you on her behalf.”

Ah, there was the Tenko he knew. The “lady” part was new, but her doing things on behalf of Himiko seemed very much in-character. “Alright,” he agreed, internally wondering why Himiko couldn’t be bothered to come here herself. Even if she was the Ultimate Princess, they were still classmates, so why would she send someone else?

“She wants to extend her most sincere apologies to you for the incidents of this morning!” Tenko bowed her head, as if to convey such an apology. “I… I must confess, I don’t know exactly what happened, but Himiko was mortified to have acted rudely towards you, so I offered to help her apologize.”

The red-haired no-longer-mage was peering out behind the doorway, before retreating as soon as Shuichi’s eyes met hers. He suppressed a little laugh. So it was her who was being shy about this? How cute. “Oh, it’s fine, she didn’t know I was sick,” she assured her through Tenko. “I’m not upset or anything!”

His phone buzzed. Notification: a text from 💜Kichi💜. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the name in there, no doubt something Kokichi had added himself considering how easily he knew the phone password. The text just had a single word: “pushover”. He looked up at Tenko, hoping she hadn’t noticed. “Really, don’t worry about it,” he assured her. “It’s not a big deal.” 

“O-oh! Um, thank you!” Tenko still wouldn’t quite look at him, but she nodded. “I- I’ll be going!” She rushed off, and he saw Himiko’s silhouette following her. He was a bit concerned, really. Was she, like, okay? He understood being so anxious that it was hard to look others in the eye, but he wouldn’t have expected Tenko to be like that. 

“Is she alright?” He asked Kokichi once certain both girls were gone. “She was so shy… She was never a fan of men, but I never saw her freeze up like that.”

He gave a nod in return. “Yeah, she’s fine, she’s just like that when Himiko is involved,” he assured him. “I guess ‘not a fan of men’ is one way to put it, but like, I would just say she’s a big ol’ lesbian.”

“Glad to know that’s the same, at least,” Shuichi mumbled. No one had really been… open about their sexualities, but Tenko was a big exception to that. She couldn’t have been clearer about her affections for Himiko, and girls in general, if she tried. 

Oh, wait. Maybe that’s something he needed to like, know about? If any of his other friends were out, that would be something Other Shuichi would know but he didn’t, so it would be weird if he didn’t know. “Kokichi! Uh, is there anyone else who’s not straight.”

A blank stare, and then Kokichi burst into laughter. “Are you seriously asking me this? Shu, there aren’t any straight people in this whole class. You can’t have possibly come from the universe where we’re all hetero, right? Right?”

He fell silent, trying to think. Kaede did always seem quite interested in girls… and Miu seemed interested in everyone… he could never tell if Kokichi was being serious, but the whole thing with the Rantaro statue was a bit telling… But, he would have never known, mostly because he barely even knew any of them. It’d only been what, a few months at the most he spent with them? His precious friends that he’d wanted so badly to keep from dying, in the end, were people he’d barely gotten to start knowing.

“You’re like, bright red,” Kokichi noted, deadpan. “Did your fever come back or did you astral project back into the closet?” 

“I just… I guess I never got to know anyone that well, back there,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s weird to think people meant so much to me, but there were lots of basic things like that I never even got to find out about. I don’t know anything about them, and I don’t even know if what I knew of them was true, and now I’m here and everyone’s close but I’m… I’m still in the dark…”

Kokichi’s face fell, and he came closer to the bed. “Hey, it’s okay,” he assured Shuichi softly. “Do you want a hug?”

He nodded. A hug sounded nice. Being held sounded lovely. And, despite being as tiny as ever, Kokichi’s arms felt safe and warm. It was a familiar feeling in a sense, even if this wasn’t something he remembered. Maybe it was because the Other Shuichi was his close friend, so something in this body remembered it. 

“You think maybe this is why you’re here?” Kokichi suggested. “So you can finally get to be friends with everyone for real? You’re safe here, so you have all the time in the world for that.”

He found himself nodding against his chest. “Maybe this is some sort of second chance,” he wondered softly. Maybe he deserved a world where no one was in danger and he wasn’t left to anguish alone. He hoped that was it, some sort of karmic reprise, but he was still a bit doubtful. If that him was fiction, then why did he persist into another world? 

A hand carded through his hair. “You’re gonna be alright,” Kokichi assured him. “We’ll figure this out. To be honest, I really think you should tell Kaede-”

“Tell me what?” A familiar voice chimed in. Shuichi felt his whole face heating up as he looked up to see the Ultimate… Gymnast, right? Kaede had discarded the jacket she’d worn this morning in place of something that more resembled a school uniform, and had her hair up in a ponytail. Ugh, he’d totally forgotten for a second people were coming in! How embarrassing... 

“K-Kaede! It’s not what it looks like, I swear,” he backpedaled. 

Kaede just laughed. “What is it supposed to look like? Relax, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen Kokichi all over you. I know you two are like that.” 

Oh… so Kokichi was just super cuddly, nothing unusual about it. That was a relief… “I- I just didn’t want you to worry about him getting sick or anything!”

A little laugh came from beside him. “I neeeever get sick, nothing for Kaede to worry about!” That had a very… Kokichi air to it. He tried to keep it straight that he wasn’t a huge liar here, but was that the truth? He certainly didn’t believe he was being honest about his talent. As far as he was concerned, he was the Ultimate ???, like Rantaro had been. 

“Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Kaede said with a gentle smile. “I was worried about you this morning, and I’m still a bit worried. For a minute, I thought Kaito was right and you really had been possessed!”

She laughed about it, but Shuichi felt sick. She was right, in a sense. He was another Shuichi stealing this body and this life. Kokichi had been about to say he should tell her, right? He was right- Kaede of all people deserved to know the truth. He needed to tell her what was really going on. 

“Well… he wasn’t wrong.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long! But, there's a good reason: I wanted to make some sprite edits for the characters in this fic! Here's the link to the first four: 
> 
> https://mitsubachiaria.tumblr.com/post/632156580788486144/first-sprite-dump-for-my-edits-for-the-talentswap 
> 
> I'm working on more, and have done a few more, but I want to wait to share them for when more characters' talents are revealed :D


	5. Shuichi 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just gonna... stop saying chapters will come soon, haha. School and writer's block and general distraction keep that from happening, so I'll just update when I can.

0 0 5

“Wh-what do you mean, Kaito wasn’t wrong about you being possessed?” Kaede looked… well, startled was putting it likely. More like an electric shock had run through her body. “K-Kaito, come in here! You were right!” She was practically shrieking. 

Kaito rushed in accompanied by a grin. “You can’t doubt the Ultimate Magician, the Emissary of the Uncanny on such matters!” Ultimate Magician seemed somewhat fitting for him, honestly- the flair for theatrics suited him. Still weird for him not to be going off about space, but not as weird as some, at least. 

His grin faltered after a moment, though. “Oh- wait, Shuichi is possessed! Kokichi, get away from him! The phantom is using his unholy powers to lure your innocent soul into darkness!”

“Hey, I’m not being lured anywhere!” Kokichi protested. “Shuichi’s way too much of a dork for tactics like that. If anyone’s an innocent soul here, it’s him.”

Before Shuichi could react, he found himself being dragged off of his bed. For a moment he thought Kaede was hugging him, but instead found himself pinned to the ground. “Unhand Shuichi, you fell demon!” Kaede threw something at him that he could only recognize as salt from the small amount that ended up in his mouth. 

He sputtered. “Gah- Kaede, knock it off! I’m not possessed!” This body was even weaker than his was back in the Killing Game. He presumed Kaito wasn’t as diligent in his insistence on training here, as his noodle arms weren’t at all capable of fighting back as Kaede tied his hands behind his back with a tie pulled from his closet. 

“You said yourself you were!” Kaede’s eyes narrowed into a glare as she turned to Kokichi. “Ugh, think he’s possessed too?”

“It was a metaphor!” Shuichi protested. “I was speaking metaphorically!”

Ignoring his dissent, Kaito attempted to push Kokichi out of the door. “Kokichi, I would have thought better of you than to fall for such enchantments!” He scolded. “Were you simply blinded by the fact it’s inhabiting Shuichi? I knew we should have brought the holy water…”

Shuichi attempted to get to his feet, but ended up just falling into an even more uncomfortable position. “You can’t seriously believe him, right Kaede?”

“Yeah, he was just gonna tell her how he’s from another timeline!” Shuichi cringed at the casual revelation of his secret to someone he hadn’t agreed to tell. But, Kaito would have had to know eventually, surely, and it wasn’t as if they had much of a choice right now.

Kaito, however, just rolled his eyes. “Kaede, he’s definitely possessed too, or just being a little shit, maybe. Can you spare another tie?”

Kokichi kicked him in the shins. “Knock it off! I’m definitely telling the truth! I wouldn’t lie in matters of Shumai’s health, and I’m not stupid enough for a ghost to convince me with cuddles!”

“I’m not saying you’re stupid, just that he’s consistantly been a laspe in your judgement!” Kaito exclaimed, still fighting to get him out the door. “Remember your surprise party last year? ‘Oh, I just wanted to distract you for a few hours-’ you seriously didn’t question  _ that _ ?”

A sound like a boiling kettle came from the small purple menace. “I- I totally knew what was going on! I was just going along with everyone! You know, to be polite!” He insisted. All Shuichi was getting from that was that both he and Kokichi were much worse liars in this world. 

Before much more squabbling could erupt, an exasperated sigh pierced the air. “What in the actual hell are you doing?” Maki’s familiar voice huffed as she entered the room, dragging Kokichi away from Kaito and sitting on the bed.

Her presence felt a bit… diminished here, in a sense, but she was still rather imposing. He still struggled to believe Ultimate Gamer was her real title, as she didn’t seem like the type to have ever even touched a video game before, but it was more believable than Child Caretaker. She glared around the room before noticing Shuichi on the floor. “Seriously, what the hell?”

“We need to perform an exorcism!” Kaito explained. “He admitted to being possessed!”

Maki had the familiar “are you shitting me” expression on her face. “Kaito, even if he was possessed, would he admit to it?”

“Well, would someone who isn’t possessed admit to it?” Kaede countered. 

Shuichi lamented his poor word choice. “It was a metaphor,” he weakly protested. “Maki, please.” He’d given up hope that she remembered too, but maybe, just maybe, she’d at least believe him. 

She approached him, and he felt the tie around his wrists loosen. “Both of you, knock it off,” Maki said, helping Shuichi back to his feet. “Wasn’t he sick this morning? You’re probably making his condition worse.”

“Yeah!” Kokichi protested, arms crossed. “I’m juuust here to help my bestest friend, and you all accuse me of being useless enough to be fooled by a ghost!”

“To be fair, you did say Shuichi is from another timeline,” Kaede objected. “If you’re both talking nonsense-”

“You are all talking nonsense!” Maki exclaimed. “Look, let’s put the possession thing aside and just agree to let Shuichi rest, alright? Look at him, he looks like he hasn’t slept well in a year.”

He wanted to say she wasn’t wrong, but last time he tried to allude to things coyly, it had definitely gone horribly. Besides, did he want to tell this many people? It seemed dangerous- the more people who knew, the faster something could go wrong, right? 

“Yeah, I just want to rest,” he said, shaking his head. “I- I’m fine, I’m just tired.” Clearly, if he was going to come clean about this, he’d need to find a better way to do it, because he’d definitely convinced Kaito and Kaede of this whole being possessed thing. “You guys can do the exorcism later if it makes you feel better… just as long as it doesn’t hurt…”

Kaito seemed oddly excited at the prospect, his eyes lighting up. “Wonderful! I shall make the preparations, we shall do it at the stroke of midnight!”

“...Kaito, he’s sick, we are not keeping him up until midnight, exorcism or not,” Maki objected. “Surely the unholy energies will work before class tomorrow or something.”

He huffed, but conceded. “Fine, we shall create a suitable atmosphere for channeling my powers at eight tomorrow morning.” 

Kaito reminded him of someone, but it sure wasn’t Himiko. Who was it he was acting like? He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it was a strange sense of Deja Vu. Maybe one of those costumes Tsumugi had worn during the final trial?

“Uh… sorry to bother you,” Kaede apologized. “Kaito was just… very set on the whole ghost thing. I guess I got swept up in his enthusiasm!” She wouldn’t quite meet his eyes, as if embarrassed she’d gotten so into the whole thing. “I- I’ll be going now! Have a nice rest!” 

She pulled Kaito out alongside her, leaving just Kokichi and Maki there with him. Considering Maki could bear to be in the same room as him… yeah, that was pretty good confirmation she didn’t remember shit. 

“So… Maks, thanks, I guess,” Kokichi muttered. He didn’t quite meet her eyes, instead settling for glaring at the wall beside her. Seemed they still weren’t the best of friends. 

Maki sighed. “Just… stop skipping class. I’m not taking any notes for you, Trust Fund.” 

“I don’t need notes,” Kokichi almost boasted. “I’ll just figure out what I missed.”

“Sure you will, Professor Naegi will probably just tell you all the answers to the test questions if you ask him,” she snipped, before shooting an apologetic glance at Shuichi. “...sorry, I shouldn’t say things like that with him here.”

“Just leave,” Kokichi said, looking away from her. “We shouldn’t do this right now.” 

She left without another word, and Shuichi just stared at the blank space where she’d been. Trust fund? And what Professor would show preferential treatment to him? Wait, the name…

“Who is Professor Naegi?” He asked. “That name sounds familiar.” Had he been the guy who made Keebo? No, that wasn’t right… Was he another person who’d been in the Killing Games before them? 

Kokichi stared blankly at him. “He’s the headmaster,” he said after a moment. “Sorry, that just felt like a weird thing to question. Why are you asking about that and not why Maki hates me so much?”

“I mean, she hated you back there too, so that’s not too out of the ordinary to me,” he admitted. “I just feel like the name is familiar, but I can’t remember where I’ve heard it before.” Was it possible they weren’t the only ones from the world he came from and this one? If so, wouldn’t that leave the possibility of Monokuma and the Monokubs or something being here? Would that matter? 

Kokichi just shrugged. “I mean… uh… maybe you just remember his name? Or maybe he was in your world too, I dunno. He was the Ultimate Novelist before Tenko was when he was younger, he went to this school too.” 

“I think he was in a previous Killing Game? I don’t quite remember…” 

Another blank silence. “...there were other killing games?”

“There were 52 other killing games,” Shuichi explained, deadpan.

“There were 52 other killing games!?”

“That’s beside the point,” Shuichi said. “It’s just interesting is all. If we aren’t the only constants across both worlds, that must mean… something. I’m not sure what yet, but it has to be important.”

Kokichi nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it sounds like something important. Uh, by the way, are you seriously planning to go through with the exorcism thing?”

“Yeah? I mean, it’ll get them to calm down,” Shuichi said. “Why, are you scared it’ll actually work?”

“What? No, of course not,” Kokichi assured him with the air of not at all being sure it wouldn’t do anything. “Just like… are you sure you wanna humor him? Also, like, it involves me getting up at a normal time, and I’m pretty sure I’m not going to sleep much tonight while trying to puzzle all this out.”

“Then, take the night off,” Shuichi offered. “You’ve done a lot for me today already, but I kind of just want to sleep, to be honest.”

Kokichi looked at him, and then the clock on his bedside table, and then back at him. “But it’s like, one in the afternoon?”

“Like you, my sleep schedule is also shit,” he said flatly, sitting back down on his bed. “And I just want to take a nap. I’ll let you know if I feel up to talking later, but I kind of just need a minute.”

He got a sweet smile that looked a bit odd on Kokichi’s face for that. “I get it,” he assured him. “You rest up, just lemme know if you need anything. I’ll tell the others to leave you be today too.”

Going towards the door, he looked back for a moment before giving a sideways smile. “I’ll see you later, I guess?”

“Yeah, see you later,” Shuichi said. The silence settling over the room as Kokichi left felt odd, but a bit calming. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be alone, but he didn’t want to keep worrying him over all of this either. Really, he just needed a good nap. So, he laid down, curling into the comforter, and closed his eyes. 

But, before he could nod all the way off, his phone buzzed. He assumed it was just Kokichi asking something he’d forgotten, or maybe Maki or Kaede apologizing for earlier, but instead, it was someone whose name was marked as “☘️Taro☘️” meaning it seemed his other self had a very particular way of putting people’s names in his phone. Had to be Rantaro, right?

The message was short but simple: “I want to talk to you sometime this evening. Let me know when you feel up to it.” It seemed simple, but it filled him with some ominous dread with the second part that came through shortly after. 

“It’s important.”

That could mean so many things, but for some reason it made him feel uneasy. What was important? Him asking that just got a “we should talk in person” from it, and a greater sense of unease. But, he agreed to it. Not like anything could go worse today. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also! More sprite edits! This time it's for Kaito, Maki, and Tenko! https://mitsubachiaria.tumblr.com/post/633343836181118976/v3-fic-au-sprite-edit-dump-2-featuring-ultimate


	6. Shuichi 6

0 0 6

A hazy feeling overtook him, sitting on a bench on the roof of what looked like a school. There was a high fence encircling it, with a figure staring out through the holes in the wire. 

Shuichi called out to them. No response. They kept staring, hand gripping the fence. The sun was getting low, casting a burning glow over the scene.

“Please, answer me,” he called out again. “I need to know!” But what was it he needed to know? Whatever it was, a sense of desperation filled his heart as he tried to get the other person’s attention. 

“There is nothing to tell you,” the person finally responded. “I hold no secrets from you, not of a story that’s already ended. There’s nothing I could say that you need to hear.”

That answer was unsatisfactory. “No, you must know the truth!” He cried back. 

The figure finally turned to face him, staring back at him with his own eyes. “Keep your promise,” the other Shuichi said. 

His face turned to a blank mass of blurred distortion. Shuichi’s eyes opened back in the bed of the still unfamiliar room. 

He assessed the room- still the same as when he went to sleep, though no light was filtering through the curtains. So everyone being alive wasn’t a dream, but whatever he’d just seen definitely was. The details were hazy, but he remembered the other him mentioning a promise. What promise? That could mean a lot of things. He’d made a lot of promises, most of them he wasn’t able to keep.

Looking back over at the picture that had so disturbed him when he first found himself here, he found himself smiling. Everyone was alive and happy in this world, that should be a wonderful thing. But then, why was he here? Or rather, why did he remember the other world? That was the big question, but he didn’t have an answer to it. 

Speaking of questions, there was that of what Rantaro had asked to talk about. He’d said he’d meet up with him after his nap, but from the looks of it, his nap ended up running a bit long. He hastily sent an apology to him for oversleeping, and asked if he still wanted to meet up. 

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll meet you in the lounge,” Rantaro replied. Great, the lounge- wait, where was the lounge? He quickly texted Kokichi to ask him that. 

The reply he received was fairly quick. “In the hall past the dorms, lots of chairs and shit there, why?” 

He just said that he’d tell him about that later. Should he put actual clothes on for this? Probably, he felt weird still being in the same pajamas. And he should probably go ahead and eat too. Gonta’s food was probably too good to be shoveled down quickly and cold while he was trying to find any relatively casual outfits in his closet, but it hit the spot nonetheless. 

Was not having any casual clothes a Butler thing? Cause he didn’t have anything less casual than button up shirts and dress pants. Ugh, why did Other Shuichi have to be so put together? 

He had to admit, it looked pretty nice on him. After brushing his hair out a bit and fumbling with one of the ties for a bit, he could be mistaken for a functioning human being! It was weird to think of himself as pretty, but that was the best word he could think of at the moment. He was pretty, and he probably shouldn’t keep Rantaro waiting any longer. 

With Kokichi’s description, he had a pretty good idea of where to find him, so he retraced the steps he’d taken that morning. And, sure enough, his suspicions were correct. Rantaro was sitting where he’d seen the forgotten laptop this morning, leaned over the coffee table, staring blankly at the wall. He couldn’t tell if it was an effect of his glasses or not until he got closer, but no, his eyes definitely looked distant. Not to get overdramatic, but they looked like crystalized fog. 

His talent was Ultimate Clairvoyant, right? That surely had to be just as much of a falsehood as Ultimate Magician, and yet he certainly had the look of a fortune teller. Even as he turned to look at him, his eyes seemed to pass straight through him, like he wasn’t even there. He gave a glance to his hands before nodding. “Right, I asked to meet you here.”

“You did, yeah,” Shuichi said, sitting down. “Did you forget or something?”

Rantaro held up his hand to show a variety of smudged scrawl on it in various colors of pen. Notes like “meet Shuichi at lounge,” “give Tsumu her jacket back,” and “Ryoma is mad at me” went all the way down to his forearms, more of it obscured by a jacket that he wondered if was the one he was supposed to be returning. “I forget a lot of things,” Rantaro said with a hollow sort of smile. “Like, I forget what your talent is, can you remind me?”

A cold chill ran down his spine. Was he kidding, or was this some sort of test? Had he deduced something was up with him too? “I-I’m the Ultimate Butler,” he said, trying to sound confident and coming out all trembles. He fiddled with the tie again. Did he not look convincing enough? 

He frowned and leaned forwards a bit. “No, you’re the Ultimate Detective,” he said with absolute confidence. “You… were close to Kaede… I think what she did, or at least what she tried to do, hurt you more than it hurt me, in the end.”

If he was chilled before, now his veins were filled with pure ice. “You- you remember that?” But how would he have known Kaede had tried to kill him, and been framed as succeeding? Even if he remembered, how would he remember what happened after he died?

“I remember… you told me you didn’t want to die, but you still apologized to me. You were kind, even then, when everyone was breaking down being told their fates,” he said in the same sort of matter of fact tone. “And then when they told you you’d be a survivor, you begged them to swap places with someone, with anyone else, to let them live.”

“I’m sorry, what?” He didn’t ever have a conversation like that with him, did he? When would he have? It would have had to have been before the game, but back then, he was just a devoted fanboy, wasn’t he? Why would he have been begging to let someone else live in his place if he was that kind of person? “Rantaro, I don’t remember that…”

Rantaro looked at him for a moment and blinked. “I needed to tell you something, right?” He asked. “Sorry, my head’s been all over the place lately. It’s even worse than usual. Uh… Shuichi… Shuichi…”

He pulled his sleeve down and studied the scrawl on his arm. “Oh! ‘I overheard Shuichi talking about the Killing Game!’ That was it!”

“So you know about that?” Shuichi felt lost, but Rantaro was looking at him with an eager grin. “But… how? No one else seems to remember…”

“That’s right,” Rantaro said with a nod. “No one but you and me, at least. I remember parts of it but… everything is hazy. I can’t remember much of anything that’s going on, I lose my place often. They call me the Ultimate Clairvoyant because what I remember from the other world lets me predict things that might happen here. I can tell when people are going to be good friends, or see certain events I shouldn’t know about. Dunno how really it works, sometimes I just space out and see weird stuff.” 

Something about that confession chilled him to the bone. Was that what would become of him now that he knew? Or was it something different with both of them? Maybe Rantaro was reacting to it differently because he’d been in two killing games? But then, where were the victims from the game he had been in? 

“I’m sorry.” That was all Shuichi could get out. “That sounds awful… I’m sorry that happens…” 

Rantaro just shrugged. “I mean, it’s not the worst thing ever,” he said. “No one’s died here, and it’s better than being dead.” 

“So you do remember dying? Then how are you and I both here, when I lived and you died?” Shuichi’s head was spinning. “Why do only we remember? Is no one else here real?”

“Nah, I don’t think that’s it,” Rantaro said, looking down at his arm. “I’ve remembered all this since I was a little kid. My parents, my friends, my classmates- everyone’s seemed real enough to me, and cared about what was going on, even if I didn’t tell them all the things I could remember. And, most importantly, you remembering makes it clear that everyone else must be able to as well.”

He blinked in surprise. “You remembered this for  _ how long _ \- wait, so I prove that everyone else here is the people we knew?” He supposed that, knowing now he wasn’t the first to remember, that did indicate that others were able to. “And you never told anyone?”

“Not really,” Rantaro admitted. “My parents were confused as to why I woke up not remembering anything normal one day, but they thought it was due to some illness. Other than that, no one but you knows.”

Well, that made Shuichi look a bit stupid, didn’t it? Rantaro hadn’t told anyone his whole life, and he told Kokichi about an hour after remembering, and attempted to tell Kaede a short while later. “Uh… hypothetically speaking, if I had told someone, would that be bad?”

Rantaro looked at him like a teacher would look at a kid acting out in class. “You told someone. Uh, I guess it depends- who was it?”

“Kokichi,” he said. “He didn’t leave me much of a choice, in my defense. And I attempted to tell Kaede and Kaito, but they didn’t believe me.” He could just leave the whole exorcism thing out of this. 

“Please tell me you’re joking,” Rantaro said, eyes widening in shock. “Ugh, this is bad. If they’re aware of things before they remember, if they in fact can, who knows how that will affect things?”

“I-I’m sorry!” Shuichi apologized. “I didn’t know anyone else would know! I was scared and alone and Kokichi cornered me, he knew something was going on with me and I didn’t know how or why!” He couldn’t bring himself to meet Rantaro’s gaze. His eyes started to sting. “I- I was scared…”

A deep sigh came from the green-haired guy, and he put a hand on Shuichi’s shoulder. “No, it’s fine. I mean, I understand why you would have panicked, you didn’t know how to act and people noticed. It isn’t your fault, but, please, can you not tell anyone else?”

Shuichi took a deep breath. The hand on his shoulder was reassuring, to say the least. “Thank you,” he said, trying to smile. “I’ll do my best to make sure no one figures out.” Probably not achievable, considering the whole exorcism thing could very easily go wrong, but he could try, at least. 

Rantaro took a pen and began writing on the hand still on Shuichi’s shoulder. “Alright, lemme write this down so I don’t forget: Kokichi knows, Shuichi panics easily, tried to tell Kaede and… Kaito, did you say?”

“Kaito, yeah.” He tried to ignore the “panicking easily” part of that- he wasn’t wrong, and if he knew the full story behind that all, he’d be even less wrong. “Anything else?”

“Right, I wanted to ask what all you remembered,” Rantaro said, still writing. “The Killing Game, yeah, but aside from that?” 

“The backstory they gave me, or my life before- I’m still unclear if everything with my uncle was real or not,” he mumbled. Nothing felt real, to be fair, but his alleged past least of all. 

Rantaro nodded. “Hm, interesting. Can’t remember mine. So it does seem our cases are… different… there!” He raised his hand from his shoulder. “Got it all written down! Now hopefully I’ll remember all this!”

“Do you forget that easily?” That was more than a bit worrisome. “Is that gonna happen to me?”

“I dunno!” Rantaro exclaimed. “It’s not too bad, mostly I’m just really bad with remembering plans and details, but I’m pretty good right now. You should be fine, probably? Just be careful, I guess. Anyways, I uh…” He pulled his jacket sleeve back down. “Right, I had plans to play a game with Maki. Guess I’ll find out what game when I get there because I forgot to write it down! See you!”

Rantaro just sort of walked off, leaving Shuichi just staring at where he’d been. After all that, he was just going to flake out and not talk more? But, they were the only two people who remembered here! Was he that mad at him, or did he just not care?

He leaned forward on his hands, staring at the wall. Everything he learned just left him more at a loss. There was a lot he needed to know, but he didn’t know how to put things in order. Even for the Ultimate Detective, this case was going to be a lot to crack. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just realized my updates hadn't been showing up unless you're subscribed or whatever, oops! Hopefully I've got that fixed now! Also, quick update for once, don't expect that often but like, I wanted to write the avocado boy. Hope everyone had a good and safe Halloween!


	7. Shuichi 7

0 0 7

The Other Shuichi, Butler Shuichi as it might be easier to call him, was clearly a neat freak. Nothing in his room was out of place- not a speck of dust, not an item out of place, not even any pens sitting out on his desk not in a pen cup. The only things that were out of place were the remnants of Kaito and Kaede’s outburst this afternoon, and he didn’t feel like picking that up, so that would remain. 

As for the rest… well, Butler Shuichi would have to forgive him. There were plenty of sticky notes to strew about with the information he had gathered about his current predicament over the course of the day. All Rantaro told him, all Kokichi told him, and all he knew from what had happened would be written up and stuck on the wall. It would be easier to keep track of everything like that. 

Everyone’s talents, all his memories, all Rantaro had shared, the events of the day- he lined it all up until he arrived at something he’d forgotten about until now. A sticky note reading “Kokichi calling Kaito his brother” remained in his hand, and he frowned at it. What had his exact wording been? “My brother is usually full of shit” or something of the sort? 

It hadn’t been ambiguous, he’d definitely referred to Kaito as his brother. And so, time to text Kokichi and ask him if he was still awake, because that was important information to know. 

He didn’t get a response for a good while, and was starting to think he was asleep and proceeding to put up more notes. But, he heard a thumping against his door, more like someone kicking it than a knock. Shuichi rolled his eyes and went to open it, having an idea who it might be. 

“That wasn’t an invitation, you know,” Shuichi told his unintentional partner in crime. “I just wanted to ask you something.”

Kokichi was struggling under the weight of a huge stack of books. “Y-yeah, I know, but I wanted to talk to you anyways!” He stumbled into his room and plopped the books down inelegantly on his bed. “I was doing some research and- what happened to your wall?”

“Just thought it was good to lay all the information we had out,” he said with a nod. “And something specific I wanted to ask you about.” He took the sticky note in question and poked it onto his forehead. 

“Ha, very funny,” Kokichi said, clearly holding back a genuine smile as he peeled it off his head. “Oh- you… was that not a thing? Were we not brothers in your murder world? Or did you just not know?” 

“If you were, no one ever thought to tell me,” Shuichi said with a shrug. Nothing he’d heard of their pasts lined up with that- Kaito had lived with his grandparents, while Kokichi… honestly, who knew where he came from other than a group of clowns. Kaito would have mentioned it if they were related at some point, surely. 

But… something didn’t add up. In the yearbook, their surnames weren’t the same. Kaito Momota and Kokichi Ouma, if they were siblings, wouldn’t they have the same last name? He raised an eyebrow. “But, your last names… are you lying to me?”

Kokichi paused from opening one of the books he’d brought with him. “I dunno, am I?” he asked with a wink. “You’re a detective, right? Can’t you figure that much out?”

He thought for a moment. They didn’t look a lot alike aside from the shared affinity for the color purple, but they did certainly act like siblings. They were certainly close, and teased each other. “Oh! Are you stepbrothers?” 

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner!” Kokichi gave a mocking applause. “Our moms had us before they got married, so we have different last names. Any more questions?” 

“A few, yeah…” He wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell him about his discussion with Rantaro yet, especially since Rantaro had seemed so against him telling anyone about this in the first place. But, he might as well press with his one big and important question regarding him in this world. “Most importantly: what is your real talent?”

He expected Kokichi to deny his question, ask what he was talking about, or something of the sort. But instead, he smirked. “See, I knew you were perceptive.”

“Perceptive, and Child Caretaker was Maki’s fake talent,” Shuichi clarified. He didn’t want to give himself too much credit for this. But, yeah, it was hard to believe he was a Child Caretaker. He could see kids liking him, but he didn’t seem very… caretaker-ish. 

“Hm. Unfair advantage,” Kokichi said, crossing his arms. “I’ll tell you it’s not my real talent, but I’m not telling you what the real one is. I’d rather see what you can puzzle out, Mister Detective.”

“So you’re testing me…?” That seemed out of character for what he knew of this Kokichi. Someone who’d been willing to trust him from the start, and yet he intended to test his ability to deduce his true talent. 

There were two scenarios in which that would make sense: one would be if he had a talent he wanted to hide from him, and the other would be if he was trying to assess his skill as an equal. But, if it were the former, he wouldn’t have been willing to admit was lying, right? No, it didn’t make sense for him to admit outright to lying in either scenario, unless he took into account that it was foolish to expect any incarnation of Kokichi to operate perfectly logically. He was toying with him, regardless of the truth. 

“I think I have it narrowed down to two possibilities,” Shuichi admitted. “But, I would like to continue to observe this and see which is correct, as they seem equally likely at the moment.”

Given the way he smiled, he presumed Kokichi found that to his liking. “Alright, I look forward to seeing what you arrive at,” he said with a nod. “In the meantime, I wanted to show you my own findings.”

“Which is-?” He had a heavy book dropped in his arms, cover facing him. It looked to be a rather weathered book, giving off an imposing air even with a few colorful bookmarks hanging out of it. But, it was the title that worried him, not the length or age. 

“The Killing Game of Despair and Students of Hope, Volume One, by Junko Enoshima,” he read out. “Is this-?”

Kokichi shook his head. “It’s a little different from what you described to me, but the same basic premise. Fifteen students are trapped in a school and forced to kill each other and all that. There are a few more like it- one where they’re on a deserted island, one where the people who survived the first one get put into another one, one with a city that got taken over by a bunch of kids, and a few prequel things. They even have that weird black and white bear you mentioned.”

Tsumugi’s words echoed in his ears. Fiction, all of it was fiction, even them. But, if it was fiction, then why was his pain still so real? “Tsumugi… It’s like what she said…”

“Huh?” Kokichi’s eyes lit up at the mention of Tsumugi. “Oh, right! Meant to tell you, Kaito told me Tsumugi wasn’t in class today- she was your mastermind or whatever, right? So it’s kinda a weird coincidence she wouldn’t be there.”

“W-why didn’t you tell me that first?” Shuichi felt cold at the information. With the confirmation Rantaro still knew what had happened to some extent, that meant anyone could, and that very well would apply to Tsumugi. “We have to question her! I had disregarded her with the assumption that I only remembered because I didn’t die there, but knowing that isn’t necessarily a factor, that leaves her as the most prime suspect!”

“What do you mean, that isn’t a factor? When did you rule that out?” Kokichi approached his wall of sticky notes, looking closely at it. “You know, if we’re gonna be working together, you’ve gotta share your data with me too!”

Ah, so it was already time to decide if he was going to regard Rantaro’s wishes to keep everything between the two of them as excluding Kokichi. Well, all things considered, it was a little too late to reverse his decision to tell Kokichi at all, so might as well just put all his trust in him while he was at it. 

“Rantaro also remembers some things,” Shuichi reported. “I talked to him a little bit ago. Seems like he’s remembered things for a long time, and a bit differently from how I did. He wasn’t happy I’d told you what was going on, he’d rather have kept it a secret, but it’s a little late for that.”

Kokichi scanned the wall, looking at the sticky note that said “Rantaro’s memories are scrambled” with a concerned frown. “So that’s what’s up with him… I always sort of wondered, but… Well, if he isn’t on board with me, you can just be our liaison! Or he can just join our little investigation duo and make it an investigation team. I’m fine either way. He’ll be a good way to get in touch with Tsumugi if she’s still M.I.A. tomorrow.”

“He would be-? Oh, right, they’re friends here, aren’t they?” That would explain why he’d borrowed her jacket, according to his hand notes. “Considering she murdered him, that’s a bit weird, isn’t it?” He did seem to have some memory of the events of his death he shouldn’t have had, after all. Did he know Tsumugi had really killed him? He had to have, since he’d worded it like he knew it hadn’t been Kaede. 

“Maybe it isn’t Tsumugi,” Shuichi said more to himself than to Kokichi. “If Rantaro still trusts her after knowing all this time, wouldn’t that mean she’s cleared of suspicion?”

“Unless Rantaro is in on it,” Kokichi suggested. “You said he’d remembered your other world for a long time, so maybe he’s why you’re here or whatever?”

He shook his head. “No, he was surprised that I remembered,” he recalled. “And he didn’t seem to really know what was going on either. He could have been lying, but I don’t think he’s behind this.”

“It’s worth questioning him, at least,” Kokichi posited. “But like… in the morning. It’s late, and we still have that whole exorcism thing  _ you  _ agreed to. And like, school, if you’re not actually sick.” 

He groaned. He’d forgotten about Kaito’s exorcism plans. He was still honestly a bit worried about that, especially considering how the last occult ritual he’d been involved in had turned out, but there wasn’t really any getting out of it if it would ease Kaito’s fears. “Right… well, I won’t keep you. Can you please move all those books from off my bed?”

“Nope- I carried them all the way in here. They’re your problem now,” Kokichi reported. “Anyways, sleep tight, Shumai!” He hugged him as he left, lingering just a bit too long. It was the least he could do to return the hug. He couldn’t forget that he’d all but erased a close friend of his and yet he was still helping him, after all.

“Thank you, and sleep well,” Shuichi said softly before he left. He couldn’t tell if he’d been heard, but he hoped he had been. 

He sat back on his bed, looking at the stack of books he’d been brought. They could potentially tell him something, if they were indeed reflecting the events of the other world, right? If that world was one of fiction, was it that weird for books here to contain parts of it? It could give him a better idea of how the two worlds fit together, maybe. 

To be honest, he didn’t learn much from it. The plot seemed similar to the previous killing games he knew about, but the names were all different. Masuyo Nakamura, Haru Hinawa, Kotone Nakamura, Yusuke Murakami, Risako Okata- none of these names rang a bell. They were kind of similar to the ones he knew, but not close enough for him to be certain he wasn’t just reading a very similar book most of the time. 

Monokuma was the only thing keeping him certain there was a connection. It was definitely the same Monokuma, even without the Monokubs there too. There was a bunny called Monomi in one of them, but none of those little brats. This was another story, but told in a way that made him certain there was some connection. Plus, the author, Junko Enoshima, wasn’t she the alleged originator of the Killing Games? 

For a moment, he wondered if he should try and contact her, but the publication date alleged that these books had been written many, many, years ago, to the point she was almost certainly long dead. But, out of curiosity, he decided to look her up on his phone, at very least to see what kind of person she had been.

Nothing turned up for her name. A few scattered mentions of other Junko Enoshimas who had social media pages, but no authors by that name. He looked up the book title itself. Again, a resounding nothing. It was as if the book didn’t exist, and yet it was right in front of him. 

By the time that mystery had come up, though, he was too exhausted to care. It wasn’t as if he had a time limit to solve this, so it was better to sleep. He passed out in his clothes next to the pile of books, and awoke to the sound of an annoying beeping alarm feeling as if he’d somehow gotten negative sleep. 

He cracked his back as he stood up and checked the time. 7:45, he should get moving for that dumb exorcism thing. He felt sore as all hell, but he wasn’t in the mood to stare at books or sleep more, so he just got up, ran a hairbrush through his hair, and asked Kokichi where the heck this thing was supposed to take place. 

A set of directions later, he arrived half awake at a room that pretty closely resembled one of those Talent Development rooms back at the other school. If he had to guess, it was just that for Kaito, as it was filled with crystals and candles and all sorts of weird magic-looking stuff. There were four people already there- Kaito preparing some circle of candles and dried flowers, Maki sitting on a table and watching him do so, Kokichi looking at something on his phone, and oddly enough, Himiko, who was asleep on a fancy looking velvet cushion on the floor. 

“Why is she here,” he asked, gesturing to the princess. “And where is Kaede?”

Instead of an answer, Maki gave him a concerned frown. “Fuck, Kaito, he looks awful, are you sure you have to put him through this?”

“I’m healing him,” Kaito insisted. “And to answer your questions, Kaede is still on her morning run, and we needed four people for the ritual, and since Kokichi is potentially compromised, we had to look elsewhere-”

“As if I would have even agreed in the first place,” Kokichi interrupted. “Also, morning, Shuichi.”

Kaito rolled his eyes. “Anyways! As I was saying! Himiko expressed interest in participating in such a ritual, so she volunteered herself to help. Though, I’m starting to wonder if she will be awake in time for this. She came in an hour ago saying she would help me set up, and then fell straight back asleep.”

Shuichi couldn’t help but smile. It was nice to know some things never changed, and Himiko being a perpetual sleepyhead was one of them. “Well, as soon as you’re ready, I can wake her up.”

Eyes scanning the scene, Kaito fiddled with the positions of a few flowers before nodding. “Yeah, go ahead. We can get in position, Kaede should be back in a few minutes, anyhow!”

Walking over to the sleeping princess, he shook her awake. “Himiko, it’s time to wake up,” he said, trying to present a friendly smile. 

Her eyes opened slowly. “Huh-? Shuichi, what are you wearing?” She asked with a small yawn. 

Before he could apologize for coming in the same clothes he’d slept in, Kaito came over. “Great, now, Himiko, if you could-”

As soon as her eyes met Kaito’s, an expression of shock settled over Himiko’s face. Her breaths grew uneven as she stared at him with abject horror, her face growing pale. Kaito opened his mouth to say something, but was met instead with Himiko’s blood curdling scream. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a longer one, but sometimes it turns out that way. I'm just excited to get things moving along :)


	8. Himiko 1

0 1 7

“Himiko, it’s time to wake up.”

That voice felt like it echoed across a huge hall where she stood, facing a girl with long red hair sitting in a throne. They locked eyes, her and the girl, and she felt a cold chill run down her spine as the girl stepped down from the throne, coming closer to her. She seemed to glare at her, before speaking in a voice that echoed just as clearly. 

“I suppose it’s your turn.”

Himiko’s eyes slowly opened, and she saw Shuichi looking over her. He was wearing some fancy suit, though it looked like he hadn’t been very careful with it. “Huh-? Shuichi, what are you wearing?” She almost wanted to laugh. It looked so unlike him to be so… fancy. 

But, before she could say anything about that, she started feeling cold again. She didn’t quite register why until her vision focused on what should have been an impossible sight. A ghost-? God, Kaito would hate being a ghost, but there he was, saying something she could barely hear over the pounding in her own head.

Was this a sick joke? Another dream? She just stared in disbelief before the scream rising up in her throat couldn’t be held back any longer. 

“A-Aaah!” She jumped up, grabbing the pillow and holding it in front of her face. “D-don’t come any closer, ghost!”

She looked around the room. It looked similar to her Talent Development place, but the decor was all off. This was the kind of stuff someone into crystal healing and fortune telling would have, not a true Mage like her! And on top of it being a mockery with an undead Kaito, she saw another person who should definitely be dead in the corner, and he confirmed his presence with a laugh. 

Her eyes narrowed. “Jeez, if someone had to be a ghost, why you?” she asked Kokichi, taking a few hesitant steps back. “Couldn’t you at least have been Tenko or An- gaah!” 

She fell onto a desk behind her, practically landing on top of Maki. She looked weird too, her long pigtails chopped off and wearing greens and blues instead of reds and blacks. “Ow… nice haircut, Maki, but what’s going on?” 

Maki moved out of the way and then looked to Shuichi, and then to Kaito. She seemed far too calm to have been seeing her dead best friend alive, so she must have seen him at some point while she was out. “Kaito, weren’t you there when Shuichi got sick yesterday? Kaede said it was like that, right? Like he was disoriented and didn’t know why people were there?”

“I wasn’t there, we just went to check on him when Kaede said he was sick! I dunno what’s going on with her!” Kaito exclaimed. Ugh, wait, Kaede? She was dead too, was she a ghost too? Ugh, but he looked way too solid to be a ghost! Was he a zombie? A vampire? A jiangshi? 

“L-leave my blood or my qi or my brains or whatever alone!” Himiko demanded. “I… I’ve…” She took her shoe off, finding to her shock and horror she was wearing a high heel. “I’ll stab your eyes out!”

Shuichi rushed to stand in front of her. “H-Himiko, it’s okay!” He exclaimed. “So you remember too, right?”

“Remember what?” Himiko asked, still gripping tight to her heeled shoe. “How did we get here, anyways? Those two are supposed to be dead…”

“Exactly!” Shuichi’s eyes lit up. “No one else remembers! This world is some sort of like, alternate world where no one’s dead or something! I- well, I would be glad it’s not just me, but I can’t exactly be happy that you remember so much awful stuff.”

Himiko didn’t loosen her grip, or let down her guard. How could she trust Shuichi any more than her own eyes? “How do I know this isn’t just another sick part of your stupid game!” She yelled at no one in particular. “If you’re all so not dead, then where is Tenko? Where’s Angie? Where’s everyone!” 

“Probably in the dining hall?” Kaito answered hesitantly. “I’m really sorry, I don’t follow this at all. Uh- wait, did the spirit move on to possess Himiko?”

“There’s not a spirit, I told you, it’s another timeline thingy!” Kokichi insisted very loudly. 

“Shut up, snake,” Himiko said, resisting the urge to throw one of her shoes at him just to see if he was solid or not. “The only people I wanna hear from here are Maki and Shuichi! At least I know they don’t want to eat my soul!”

Maki stared blankly at her. “Weird selection but okay,” Maki said. “Uh… look, you know I hate to admit this, but if both Shuichi and Kokichi say that something is happening, and Himiko’s actions corroborate it, then, loathe as I am to say it, I think Kokichi was right.”

She looked back at Shuichi. He just nodded. “I… I don’t really know how I can prove it to you all, but I’m not the Ultimate Butler Shuichi, and I’m pretty sure she’s not the Ultimate Princess Himiko. You’re the Ultimate Magician, aren’t you?”

“I’m the Ultimate Mage!” she insisted. “And you’re the Ultimate Detective! I dunno what you’re talking about with this Ultimate Princess and Butler thing.”

“See, exactly!” Shuichi exclaimed. “We both woke up here, me yesterday and her a few minutes ago. We remembered a completely different world, where everyone else had died and everyone’s talents were different.”

Why did Maki look so confused by this? Three survivors, all three should be on the same page, right? But she looked every bit as bewildered as the dead purple guys. “...Maki, don’t you remember too? We- we escaped together…”

Maki just shook her head in disbelief. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean. I’m just the regular Ultimate Gamer Maki, I don’t really remember anyone dying.”

“Ultimate Gamer?” Somehow that seemed weirder than even Ultimate Princess or whatever Shuichi said she was supposed to be here. Ugh, none of this made sense… “Fine, so just me and Shuichi remember. I have no idea what’s going on, but please, if everyone’s alive here, can I please see Tenko and Angie? I… I miss them so much!” 

Her precious friends… She wanted them to know how much stronger she was. Even if they had no clue what she meant like Maki and Kaito, that was fine. She still missed them, and if whatever the heck was going on meant she got to see them, then she’d gladly accept that.

“I can, uh, do that,” Kokichi volunteered. “Seems that you’re not exactly my biggest fan so I’ll just…” He ran towards the door and straight on out of it. Himiko felt uneasy entrusting him with such an important task, but if this was another world, then maybe he was better. Besides, no one else was stepping up to offer to help, so whatever. 

Kaito raised his hand, like he was waiting for a teacher to call on him. After a moment, she realized he was probably asking for permission to speak after she told everyone but Maki and Shuichi to shut up, so she pointed at him. “Talk, now.”

“So you’re a fellow Magician?” Kaito asked. She could hear Maki facepalming beside her, but that wasn’t her concern. 

“I’m a Mage,” Himiko insisted. “I do real magic, not like the cards and crystals and candle stuff in here.”

His face fell for a moment before he then lit back up. “Ah, I see! So you are my superior in the art! Please, teach me-”

“Kaito, is this really the time?” Maki interrupted. “She’s clearly very disoriented, you shouldn’t be asking her about magic stuff.”

“No, I am more than happy to take an apprentice under my wing,” Himiko insisted. “Maki, don’t ruin this for me! Another world or not, this is still an important opportunity!” Ah, she’d never had an apprentice before! This was so exciting! She could teach him everything she knew that wasn’t bound by a magician’s code- were there any guilds here that he could join up with? 

“So you’re not at all confused about this world having everyone’s talents being different?” Shuichi questioned. “I mean, Kaito being the Ultimate Magician confused me.”

Himiko wasn’t sure how to answer that except with a shrug. “I am confused, yes, but confusion isn’t going to help right now. If I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole, I need to figure out what the cake and potion do before I question how I fell so far, you know?”

Shuichi’s expression indicated he did not know. “Uh… well, I mean, you have a lot of questions, surely…” 

Did she? Well, certainly she wondered how she and Shuichi got here, or what this world was, but she was willing to accept whatever was going on if it gave her a chance to say goodbye. “Yes, I do, but none of them are as important as seeing everyone again,” Himiko decided. Well… almost everyone. She might find it hard to resist punching Korekiyo or Tsumugi. 

“I understand what you mean, but they won’t be the same as you remember,” Shuichi warned. “I haven’t met this world’s Angie yet, but Tenko was really different.” 

“So? She’s still Tenko!” Himiko objected. “And I still wanna see her again. There’s so many things I never got to tell her… Even if this world is fake, I still want to say everything!” 

Shuichi frowned a bit. “I… don’t know if this world is fake. There’s definitely a connection between the two worlds, but I have no idea what it is yet. I’ve been investigating with Kokichi for a day, but I don’t know yet much beyond that there is a connection and Rantaro is also aware of the other world.”

“Rantaro is in on this?” Maki questioned. “Kaito, can I borrow your phone?” 

“Unconnected thought, but sure, why?” Kaito handed his phone to Maki. He had a really cute case on it, looked like a spellbook. He should add some dangly little charms to it though, that would be the first lesson of his Mage Apprenticeship. 

Maki put in a password easily and Himiko leaned over to see who she was texting once she heard a keyboard clicking noise. Someone whose name was put in as “🍇🏳️‍🌈🍇” who she could only assume was Kokichi. He was the only gay grape she could think of. Maki was sending a text to ask him to grab Rantaro too if he could. 

“Why did you need Kaito’s phone for that?” Himiko asked. “He has you blocked?”

“No, I have him blocked and I didn’t feel like undoing it,” Maki answered. Made sense enough. “We need to question Rantaro about this if he also knows, so I asked Kokichi to do so.”

Shuichi frowned. “He… won’t be happy about this- he got upset just when I told him Kokichi had cornered me into telling him, seemed like he’d been keeping it secret for a while and was frustrated I didn’t even make it a conscious hour. But, at least this time it isn’t my fault!”

Himiko huffed. “What’s the point in keeping it secret? Cause they don’t know they died? Well, both of us know they did, so if we’re gonna figure anything out, we should just tell everyone.” 

His eyes widened a bit. “You do have a good point… If three people cooberate a story, they’re a lot more likely to believe that. The force of the entire class would be a lot more helpful in that case.”

“Maybe I should be the Ultimate Detective too,” Himiko joked. “You’ve gotta employ all in your arsenal to crack a case and stuff…” 

Maki nodded. “It might be difficult to believe, but you’re both acting so strangely that it’s impossible to not believe something highly unusual is taking place. After all, I would never expect in normal situations for you to-” 

A frantic knocking attacked the door before Maki could say what she didn’t expect Himiko to ever do. “Oh, that’s probably Kaede!” Kaito exclaimed. “She was going to join us back when this was a seance… wow, she’s going to be quite confused, isn’t she?”

Himiko braced herself for a weird Kaede to enter, but instead, it was Tenko. She was wearing pink and braids and glasses, but it was definitely her Tenko. She couldn’t stop herself- she leapt off the desk to hug her. 

“Tenko! You’re okay…” Himiko mumbled into her shoulder. She was a lot less muscular, but she was still nice to hug. This world’s Tenko must be more nerd than jock, but it was still Tenko, right? “I missed you so much…”

“I- I came as soon as I heard something was wrong, Lady Himiko!” Tenko exclaimed. “I… I didn’t realize you missed me or were worried for me… Are you hurt?”

Himiko sighed into her arms as she returned the hug. “No, I’m wonderful,” she assured her. “And no need to call me Lady. I’m just your Himiko.” Maybe she could convince herself that it had all been a bad dream. If this world had Tenko, it couldn’t be too bad, right? 

She’d chosen to reject the fiction and reject the game, and yet here she still was. Whatever this was, she had to be honest with herself, and with Tenko. She had to say all she’d never gotten to. 

“Tenko, I adore you,” she said, eyes burning a bit. “It took me until you were gone for me to realize it, but… I love you so much!”

Tenko squeaked like a boiling kettle. “L-love me? I- I don’t know where I went, but I love you too? I’m very confused right now, but you’re the most wonderful girl in the universe?!” 

“...okay, maybe I should have started with the explanation…” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Miiiight have not been entirely honest when I said ships wouldn’t go past subtext for a while. Tenmiko couldn’t wait any longer than the second these two lesbians get to see each other together- they deserve a happily ever after, and if not that, then at least a happily now.


	9. Himiko 2

0 2 7

“So you’re the Himiko of another world?” Tenko asked, eyes wide. “And he’s the Shuichi of another world, correct?”

Himiko was surprised by how quickly she was grasping this. “Yeah, that’s right,” she said. “And in that world, everyone else in our class besides Maki got killed. Not just you and Angie.”

Tenko nodded. “And so… your spirits persisted to another world in order to reunite with the ones you lost?”

“I… I guess?” Himiko shrugged. “Actually, no clue why we’re here now, but that’s one way to put it.”

“And I was the one you sought out, because my demise pained you the most… A-and… you found yourself still loving this cowardly me despite not being the strong and stunning girl you once knew?” Tenko clasped her hands in front of her heart, staring pleadingly at Himiko, almost. 

“You’re still Tenko,” Himiko said resolutely. She felt just the same as she always did. Her strong spirit was still just the same. Even if she looked a little different, she had to still be Tenko, and she loved Tenko! “Just like how I’m sure I’m still Himiko even if my hair’s longer and I’m wearing heels, and Shuichi is still Shuichi even if he looks all fancy. Whatever’s going on, it has to be for a reason, right? I dunno if the reason is something so poetic as giving us a chance to not have to say goodbye to the people we love, but I know your spirit is the same!”

But there was the question… she faintly remembered seeing the other her before she woke up. How could she have seen herself then, but have no doubt in her mind she was seeing Tenko now? Was she simply believing what she wanted to be true, or was there something else at play? The cognitive dissonance was enough to hurt her head, but truth had lost all meaning. 

“I hate to interrupt your heartfelt reunion, but that’s really… not the conclusion I’d come to,” Shuichi interjected. “It seems more likely this version of ourselves overwrote the versions here.”

“So? We’re still the same,” Himiko insisted. “Just cause a phone updates to a new version of the software, that doesn’t mean you got a new phone.”

Shuichi’s brow furrowed as he frowned. “I… suppose you have a point. But, that doesn’t explain why memories aren’t persistent. But, it could explain why Rantaro remembers things that happened after his death.”

Maki nodded. “As much as it pains me to do so, I think it would be a mistake to approach what is happening from a purely logical standpoint. This defies logic, so therefore, positing it pertains to some immaterial spirit might be the wisest approach.”

“Himiko… it’s fine if I’m really not your Tenko,” Tenko said softly. “I… I know I’ll love you regardless of if you’re a princess or a survivor of a tragedy, but if you don’t feel the same-”

“You’re proving my point!” Himiko exclaimed. “That’s the kind of thing my Tenko would say! She’d believe in me no matter what, so I’ll believe in you no matter what.”

Tenko hugged her. “Thank you, in that case, I’ll not doubt myself!” Himiko let herself relax into the hug a bit. This was the kind of thing she’d imagine to comfort her to sleep for so many restless nights. She could almost just fall asleep right here, it was so tempting to let her eyes close… 

An annoyingly loud ringtone interrupted her. “Maki! Give me my phone back!” Kaito exclaimed. She threw it at him, and he answered it with a cheerful. “Hello!”

His face fell only a moment afterwards, and he wordlessly put it on speakerphone. A tinny recreation of Kokichi’s voice pounded through it. “Uh… good news and bad news? Good news is I found Angie and Rantaro but… uh, Angie, she’s unconscious in the library. What do I do?”

“No, no, no!” Himiko’s entire body felt cold as she jolted up. “I’m not… not again… Never again!” She’d just gotten here, and already a friend was in danger of falling again? No, she wouldn’t let this happen. “Tenko, can you take me to the library? I don’t know where it is, and I don’t want to go alone.”

“Of course.” Tenko whipped the door open and began running out. “Is everyone else coming?” 

While Kaito and Shuichi got up as well, Maki looked around and grabbed for a pad of paper. “I’ll be right behind you- I’m going to leave a note for Kaede when she gets here so she knows why we aren’t here.”

“That’s a good idea,” Shuichi agreed. “Let’s hurry- if something is wrong, we need to help quickly!”

Tenko and Kaito led the way. Himiko struggled to keep up- since she’d taken her heels off, she was slipping and sliding on the hardwood floors in her socks, but she didn’t have the time to stop to take the socks off. Her heart pounded as she cursed her lack of coordination. She had to get there in time! Dammit, why did the library have to be down so many halls? She ended up being the last one to enter the library, and she half expected a familiar voice to pop up saying a body had been discovered before she did. 

The scene lacked any magenta stains, but other than that, resembled all too closely the kind of crime scene they’d seen too many times in the other world. Angie was unconscious in front of a bookcase, looking as if she’d been pretty much perfectly still judging by the lack of any disturbance around her on the rug. She noticed little else strange about the scene, other than the fact Angie had a book next to her on the ground, and there was a large gap in the books on the case in front of her. 

“Looks like a book must have landed on her head,” Kaito posited. “That real big one next to her, and it knocked her out.”

Kokichi, who Himiko only now noticed was standing on a table, huffed. “No, that’s definitely not it! Don’t move it, but read out the name of the book, Shuichi.”

“Why are you- never mind.” Shuichi took a few steps closer to the unconscious Angie and bent down to read the book’s cover. Whatever it said must have been bad, as his face paled when he read it. “The New Semester of Hope and Despair by Junko Enoshima?”

“Junko Enoshima? Oh, she’s that one bitch!” Himiko blurted out. The surprised looks she got from Tenko and Kaito indicated that wasn’t her typical language here. “Uh, she was supposed to be the originator of the Killing Games. Allegedly, at least. Ultimate Despair or something, right Shuichi?”

The Ultimate Detective nodded gravely. “That’s right. And, the name of someone who wrote books about killing games in this world, or at least their pen name. It seems they don’t exist anywhere online, but Kokichi found these books in the library yesterday.”

“Interesting, but we need to take care of Angie first,” Himiko affirmed. She scanned the room. “Where is Rantaro, didn’t Kokichi say he’d found him?”

“I sent him to get Keebo, he’s the Ultimate Nurse here,” Kokichi said, sitting down on the table he’d been standing on. “And while waiting for you guys, I got pictures of the crime scene, as many as I could without disturbing it, at least.”

“Crime scene?” Tenko questioned. “Oh, no, that’s definitely not the case! Angie just fell asleep while looking for a book, I’m sure! She’s a pretty heavy sleeper, so if she wasn’t responding, just try shaking her awake!”

Himiko went closer, as if to shake her awake as Tenko suggested, but noticed a reddish-purplish mark on the side of her face. “It looks like she was struck by something,” Himiko noted.

Shuichi followed her lead and bent down to look closer. “Yes, and it doesn’t match the shape of the book,” he said. “It looks like she was punched more likely than not, or maybe elbowed.”

“Then what knocked her out?” Kokichi questioned. “A punch in the face isn’t likely to knock someone unconscious.”

Tenko’s eyes were threatening to spill over with tears as she approached Angie and gently shook her. “No, she’s just asleep, see?” She insisted. She began shaking her a bit more rigorously. “Angie, please, wake up!” She almost shouted. “You’re starting to worry people…”

Maki finally entered the room, eyes sharpened into daggers. “So you can’t wake her up?” Maki questioned. “Interesting. But she is still breathing, right?”

Himiko watched her chest rise and fall. It seemed her breathing was normal, but she didn’t know enough about medicine to say if that was for certain. “She is,” Himiko confirmed. “But she’s unresponsive. We don’t know what happened to her, but it looks like there’s a bruise on the left side of her face.”

Maki nodded. “Well, nothing like this has happened before, so it doesn’t seem implausible this is something to do with what happened to you all,” she mused. “Is it possible she’s going to wake up with memories as well?”

The idea of that filled Himiko with dread. “I hope not,” she mumbled. “I don’t want her to remember dying! That would be awful.”

Tenko bent down to look at the book beside Angie. “Well, if this really is a mystery, we should examine this book for fingerprints, right?” She suggested. “Is there any way for us to do that here?”

“Maybe in one of the research labs?” Shuichi suggested. “I don’t think there’s an Ultimate Detective in our class, but there wasn’t anything like that in mine, so I don’t even know if that would be a safe bet.”

“No, there’s nothing like that in any of the research labs,” Kokichi affirmed. “Trust me, I’ve looked. Said it was a useless expense.”

Maki snorted, as if laughing, but stopped after Kaito shot her a dire look. But, Tenko seemed to share Himiko’s confusion at that comment. “Why would the Ultimate Child Caregiver be looking for fingerprinting? Wouldn’t you be more looking for fingerpainting?”

“Let’s just look at the book,” Kokichi said, picking up the book himself. “Even if we can’t fingerprint it, there might be-”

As he picked it up, a sheet of paper fluttered out of it. It was a bright white shade as compared to the yellowed pages of the book, and folded up neatly. “Huh?” Tenko picked it up and began unfolding it, setting it on the nearby table. “It’s a note. Did the person who attacked Angie leave this here?”

Shuichi rushed to read it, and began doing so out loud. 

> _ To the Ultimate Detective and Ultimate Magician-  _
> 
> _ Good morning from this world. I presume you find the peace here to your liking? If so, I advise you to play along with my little game.  _
> 
> _ A student in your class attacked Angie Yonaga, the Ultimate Moral Compass, and rendered her unconscious. You must determine who by 8:00 A.M. tomorrow morning. If not, she will not wake, and the game you so loathed will begin anew.  _
> 
> _ You may enlist the assistance of whoever you’d like from your class, but do not involve any adults. As far as they are concerned, she simply fainted and for some mysterious reason won’t wake up.  _
> 
> _ With love, M _

“N-no!” Himiko blurted out, gripping the back of a chair so tightly her knuckles turned white. “We can’t let this happen! We have to figure out who did this! I… I refuse to lose anyone else!”

Shuichi, similarly pale, nodded. “M… Do you think that stands for Monokuma? Or Mastermind?”

“It could stand for Miu, or Maki, or Momota,” Tenko mused. Maki glared, and Kaito gasped a little, before Tenko waved her hands in front of herself frantically. “I-I’m not accusing you! I was just listing all the M names I could think of!”

“M could be a red herring for all we know,” Kokichi said. “It seems this M figure isn’t necessarily the one we’re looking for, though, and even if it is, I doubt M would be any sort of hint to their real name. 

“Hey, Shuichi, didn’t you say that Kokichi found more books like this in the library yesterday?” Kaito questioned. 

Kokichi was the one who answered. “That’s right, they pertained to Shuichi’s whole other world issue so I brought them to him! I can go get them from his room if you want-”

Maki closed the door as Kokichi began making strides towards it. “So you had books like the one Angie was found with, and you were in the library yesterday?” Maki questioned. “Interesting. And you were the one who found her here?”

“Maki, you can’t just accuse him of that!” Kaito exclaimed. “Please, just put aside your beef with him for one day! Angie could be in serious danger!”

“I’m not accusing him of anything,” Maki insisted. “But, I don’t think we should trust the word of someone who can’t even be honest about his own Ultimate Talent.”

All the eyes in the room fell on Kokichi, who looked pale, before letting out a deep sigh. “If that’s how this game is to be played, then I’ll do all I can to defeat it. It seems I’m being framed, and because I know it wasn’t me, and because I don’t want anyone to be hurt, I’ll do everything in my ability to find the real culprit. I promise, as the Ultimate Detective, I’ll clear my name.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies to Himiko for only giving her one chapter before shit hit the fan.


	10. Shuichi 8

0 2 8

So Kokichi’s true talent was Ultimate Detective? To be honest, Shuichi had suspected as much. It was either that or Assassin, judging by his actions. While he couldn’t say he’d been approaching Angie’s case exactly as he would have done, he was being pretty detective-minded about the whole sordid affair. 

It seemed only Tenko was surprised by his revelation, judging by her astonished gasp. Himiko not reacting wasn’t much of a surprise- she had only been awake for an hour and this was probably the tamest thing she’d seen. Kaito also definitely already knew, as did Maki judging by her accusations and smug smile. 

Kokichi turned to Shuichi with a sheepish smile. “Sorry I didn’t get to let you finish your guessing game, it seems like  _ someone _ didn’t want to play. But, would you have got it right? Come on, be honest!”

He couldn’t help but laugh a bit at Kokichi telling him to be honest, but it was fitting enough for this version of him to do. “It was either that or Assassin, and I was leaning more towards Detective,” he admitted. 

“I’ll count that as your win. You can cash in your prize later,” Kokichi said with a wink. Out of the corner of his eye, Shuichi saw Tenko miming throwing up and Maki rolling her eyes. “But, we need to focus right now. Maki, please can we just call a truce for now?”

She turned away from him pointedly. “Fine, whatever, I guess. But, I’m not counting you out as a potential suspect, because everyone needs to be investigated, even the people in this room. M has given us fifteen suspects, and we need to thoroughly vet them all.”

“Can we really count out Angie somehow doing this to herself, though?” Kaito questioned. “Like… M could have brainwashed her into knocking herself out!”

“Nah, you can’t build up enough force to knock yourself out with a punch to yourself,” Kokichi said. “So, it couldn’t have been her own doing.” 

“The force of the punch,” Shuichi mumbled to himself. Wait, the scale of her injuries didn’t match the series of events- there was just a bruise, no real external bleeding. If she’d really been knocked unconscious by a blow, wouldn’t it have been enough to also cause some bleeding in her mouth or on her face? “One second, let me check something.”

He bent down to examine Angie closer. There wasn’t any blood on her clothes, nor in her mouth, and no teeth were missing or loose. Such a heavy punch as to knock her out should have left more than just a bruise. Therefore…   
  
“The punch wasn’t what knocked her out,” Shuichi reported. “It seems more likely she was drugged.”

“So the puncher didn’t necessarily knock her out?” Himiko asked. “Then, who is it we’re looking for?”

“Whoever was in the library last,” Maki said with a nod. “Whoever was the last one other than Angie to enter and exit it before Rantaro and Kokichi found her would have been the one to do it, or at least an accomplice.”

Kaito snapped his fingers, and quickly flung the door open and rushed outside. A loud “boo-yah!” could be heard coming from the hall shortly after, and he ran back in. “There’s a security camera outside!” He exclaimed. “So, if we look at the footage from last night, we’ll know who did it!”

“Yeah, but how are we supposed to get that?” Kokichi asked. “The note said we couldn’t ask any of the teachers for help, and I can’t exactly just go ‘hey Headmaster, can I see the security footage for outside the library from last night?’ or whatever.”

“Oh, yes you could,” Maki deadpanned. “And if you can’t, just have your mommy buy the school back or whatever.”

“Stop! Fighting!” Kaito exclaimed. “Maki, look, I know how you feel about all that, but this is not the time to be petty.”

Maki looked away from him, nodding. “I… you’re right, I’m sorry. I need to stop letting my emotions get the best of me. Still, that doesn’t solve the matter of how to get the security footage.”

“Couldn’t we ask Tsumugi for help?” Tenko asked, raising her hand like in a classroom but blurting it out anyways. “I mean, I’m sure she’d want to know what’s going on too!”

“What are you asking Mugi?” asked a familiar voice. Rantaro walked into the room, accompanied by a far more frantic looking Keebo, who rushed to Angie’s side and began scanning her with all sorts of weird devices. 

After a moment, the medical robot let out something close to a deep sigh. “By all accounts, her state doesn’t make sense,” Keebo asserted. “She’s unconscious and not just asleep, but her injuries don’t match…”

“That’s what I said!” Shuichi exclaimed. “Can you scan her for any trace of any toxins or drugs?”

“I… lack those capabilities,” Keebo said, shaking his head. “But, I doubt someone would have drugged her, it’s more likely she has some unknown malady.”

Shuichi glanced towards the note. Should he tell him and Rantaro-? No, it was better not to openly announce what was going on to as many people as possible. “Ah, yeah, that was a bit of a silly question,” Shuichi lied. “Anyways, Rantaro, you and Tsumugi are friends, right?” What was her talent again? Programmer or something, right? That would be able to help, surely.

“Yeah, we’re good friends,” Rantaro asserted. “But I dunno what she has to do with this all.”

“We wanted to check the security cameras to see when Angie came in here last night!” he exclaimed, improvising. “We thought knowing how long she’d been out might help us figure out what was going on with her. And, I figured the teachers wouldn’t love students just poking around, so if Tsumugi could discreetly hack into them…”

“That’s a decent idea,” Rantaro agreed. “I’m sure she could do that if we asked.” 

Keebo, now picking Angie up, gave them a strange look. “It is, but why would you need to hack into the cameras for that? Wouldn’t it be simpler to just ask, if it’s for medical reasons?”

“Um…” Shuichi couldn’t explain that he couldn’t ask the adults for help or risk having to explain the truth, because he didn’t know how strict the rules they were given were. 

“Aw, come on, where’s the fun in that!” Kokichi blurted out before Shuichi could come up with a good excuse for Keebo. “We never get the chance to do cool questionable stuff without risking getting in trouble!”

“You would get in trouble!” Keebo exclaimed. “Just because you’re doing it for a good reason doesn’t mean you’re not going to get both yourselves and Tsumugi in trouble! Besides, what would Angie say if she knew you were doing such things for her sake?”

Rantaro gave a light laugh. “Aw, come on, Keebs, Mugi would love doing that! She loves a good challenge.” It still gave him a weird sense of unease to hear Rantaro refer to his murderer in such a casual manner, but he supposed that if Rantaro knew that and chose to trust her anyhow, he couldn’t be too upset by that. “You and the others can work on getting Angie settled in the Nurse’s Office or whatever, I’ll take Blueberry and Shortstack to go find our favorite hacker.” 

Kokichi huffed indignantly as Rantaro dragged the two of them out into the hall. “Shortstack? Real mature…” He muttered under his breath. “Is everyone just gonna bully me today? Between you and Maki…”

“Yeah, what was that all about?” Shuichi pressed. “She said something about mommy… buying the school back?”

Rantaro glanced at his writing covered arm. “Uh… I don’t know what you’re talking about, was this something that I forgot while we were talking or-”

“Nah, it was while you were gone to find Keebo,” Kokichi explained. “Maki’s just not a huge fan of mine because… you know, reasons I’d rather not go into. Rantaro, don’t write this down, I’m just telling Shuichi this, so please forget it- Maki gets annoyed because the headmaster is my godfather so she thinks I get special treatment.”

“Oh?” He did talk pretty casually about him earlier, that would explain it. “So you and Kaito…” 

“We keep it under wraps,” Kokichi explained. “That’s why we don’t go around saying our names are Kaito Kirigiri and Kokichi Ludenberg- Kaito’s grandfather used to run the school, but his mom handed it over to her close friend because she didn’t want to perpetuate her dad’s legacy.”

“Kokichi… Ludenberg?” What kind of a name was that? It sounded foreign, but Kokichi really didn’t seem foreign… 

“Well… Kokichi Yasuhiro, but mama isn’t a fan of that name,” he elaborated. “I guess you wouldn’t know about Celestia Ludenberg, first Ultimate Detective, famed for hiding everything about herself.”

Wasn't Kyoko Kirigiri the first Ultimate Detective- oh, right, other talents would have been swapped too, huh? “So you got your talent from your mom?” Shuichi asked. 

Kokichi’s face darkened. “I… really don’t like it when people put it like that. That’s why I have a fake talent and don’t use my real last name- I don’t want people to think that I’m just here play-acting at my mom’s talent. I know I’m only in my position because of the privilege I was born into, but I want to become more than that. That’s why I don’t want to be known as the second Ultimate Detective until I’m more than worthy of the title on my own. Solving a few murders while mom was busy is hardly worthy of praise…” 

Stopping in his tracks, Shuichi put his hand on Kokichi’s shoulder. “Kokichi, I never realized how similar we were,” he admitted. “I never felt worthy of my title either, I felt like I only had it because of my uncle. But, even just watching you investigate what happened to Angie, I can tell, you’re much better than you think you are. You are the Ultimate Detective, whether you feel like it or not.”

Kokichi’s eyes widened, a soft smile covering his face. “Shuichi… that means the world to me, you know?”

“Of course I know,” Shuichi affirmed. “Because it’s the thing I always wanted to hear others say to me. It took me going through hell to prove to myself I was enough, and I still doubted myself constantly. But, we don’t have to go through hell to find the truths in ourselves, because sometimes all it takes is someone you trust telling it to you.”

His fellow detective was getting a bit misty-eyed. “Thank you, really. You know, the truth is, even if you’re not the Shuichi I knew, you’re still Shuichi, and you’re-”

“Heeey, uh, should I go?” Rantaro interjected. “You two seem to be having a… moment, and like, if you’re busy, I can go find Tsumugi-”

Shuichi’s face began burning in embarrassment. “Sorry, sorry! I- uh… got distracted…” He’d honestly forgotten Rantaro was even with them… “We do need to go find Tsumugi, sorry! Uh, where are you taking us, anyways?”

“The cafeteria,” Rantaro said with a smirk. “That’s where Kokichi found me, talking to her, right?”

“Oh yeah, forgot about that,” Kokichi said. “You were talking to her when I grabbed you. She’s probably still eating breakfast, right?”

“Probably? I think it’s still breakfast time so she should at least still be in the cafeteria,” Rantaro mused. “It isn’t too much farther, so like, don’t have any more heart to hearts before we get there.” 

“So meaaaaan!” Kokichi whined. “Shumaaaai! Everyone’s bullying me today!” He clung onto his arm with a cheeky wink. “You’ve gotta protect meeee!”

Shuichi laughed a little. For a moment, he could imagine this being a regular school day, where he was going to class with two friends who were playfully bickering. He could pretend like his slept-in uniform was just from studying too late, and Rantaro’s frantic notes were just him trying to cram for a test. 

But, as they entered the cafeteria, he couldn’t eliminate the sense of dread falling over him as he locked eyes with Tsumugi. She looked perfectly normal, hair in braids pinned up, slunk into an oversized hoodie. But, she was still the one who acted as the mastermind to the tragedy he’d been caught up in, even if ultimately her power in the situation was debatable. 

He approached her, hands shaking. “Tsumugi… can we talk to you for a moment?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise, it's Celesgiri time.
> 
> Also, more sprites, this time it's Tsumugi, Rantaro, and as an apology for her being the not-murder victim, Angie. 
> 
> https://mitsubachiaria.tumblr.com/post/636061194526015488/another-sprite-dump-for-talentswap-au-weve-got


	11. Shuichi 9

0 2 9 

Tsumugi looked between the three of them, clearly a bit surprised. “Oh, Rantaro, you’re back… Is Shuichi okay? I thought he was sick…”

“I’m feeling fine,” Shuichi assured her. He’d almost forgotten he’d been sick, all things considered. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure what had been up with him yesterday. His symptoms hadn’t made a lot of sense either-

Oh. Oh. Just… just like Angie… Was it possible that he too had been afflicted with something by M? Did that mean Angie’s symptoms would vanish just as quickly as his did? Did that mean-

Kokichi snapped in front of his face, derailing his train of thought. “Hellooooo, earth to Shuichi! We need to ask Tsumugi for help, remember?”

“Oh, sorry! I just thought of something- I’ll tell you later.” This could be important, after all. If they were connected, M might be able to somehow inflict afflictions? But how… 

Right. Tsumugi. One problem at a time. “Can you hack into the security camera feeds?”

“Not so loud!” Tsumugi scolded. “And… yes,” she whispered. “I can get a live feed easy peasy!”

“We need footage from last night, though, not from right now,” Kokichi clarified in a whisper, now sitting on the table. 

Tsumugi frowned. “That’s… more complicated. Archived footage is stored on a computer not connected to any network…You couldn’t get to them unless you’re in the room with it. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

Wouldn’t it have to be connected to some sort of network to get to the cameras? Was Tsumugi making some excuse because she didn’t want to get in trouble? Or… was this an excuse for her saying she didn’t know how? After all, being a programmer didn’t automatically mean you were a hacker. 

“I understand, thank you anyways!” He was about to walk away, feeling awkward that he’d asked something presumptuous before Rantaro dragged him back. 

“Come on, you still need to do detective stuff,” Rantaro exclaimed. “Ask her where she was last night and stuff!”

“Hm? Where was I last night?” Tsumugi repeated. “Not doing anything terribly exciting- I saw Rantaro and then he went to talk to someone and then play some game with Maki, and I worked on a project. Wanna see?”

Shuichi nodded- that lined up with what he’d been told last night by Rantaro. “That checks out- I was the one Rantaro was talking to. He was giving me notes from yesterday when I was sick,” he bluffed. “Then he told me he was going to see Maki. We can check with her to make sure when we meet back up, I guess.”

Tsumugi seemed to disregard his musing and instead opened her computer to show off how she had one of those little shimeji things. “See- I programmed her to be able to identify the original sources of images stolen from other websites! Now I won’t have to hunt down the original artist when I see reposted fanart! Isn’t that cool?”

“Y-yeah, very cool,” Shuichi said. He had no idea what she just said, but feigned a polite interest. It was very… Tsumugi of her. At least, the Tsumugi he thought he knew for most of the game. She couldn’t be the same girl who wore costume after costume while rambling on about a captivating fiction, right? No, this was the girl who lingered in the background, filled with her own passion, surely. 

But, as he assuaged his fears about this Tsumugi, Kokichi walked off, honing in on Ryoma. Shuichi followed him with only his eyes, as Tsumugi was still explaining her little desktop friend excitedly. 

Ryoma was the Ultimate Yakuza, right? How cruel that seemed, considering his past, but Kokichi had explained he’d defeated a whole gang and became their new leader, so it checked out more or less. He’d just chosen a different path in that encounter, or something of the sort. He wore the confident aura of danger well, glaring at the purple detective as he approached. “What do you need, Ouma?”

“Oh, I just wanted to ask you a few questions is all-” Kokichi was cut off by the intensity of that glare going way up. “Ah- I- I see you’re busy! I’ll ask later!” 

Seeing Kokichi of all people run off intimidated was a sight to behold, but he instead went over to Kirumi, who was pouring over a book about crabs. She was the Ultimate Entomologist, just like Gonta had once been, but according to Kokichi, specialized in spiders and other arthropods and was a bit miffed they were lumped in with insects. Considering her execution, this too seemed needlessly cruel. Perhaps the god of this world had a sick sense of humor. 

Still, she looked at Kokichi with hesitation. “I’m still not letting you bring any of my crysali to your kindergarten substitution stint,” she almost huffed. “They are living beings, not some prop for a demonstration! And, I certainly trust neither you nor six year olds to properly respect them.”

“Wha- no, that’s not it at all! I needed to ask you where you were last night!” Kokichi exclaimed. He was only met with a suspicious glare. “I-it’s important!”

“Sure it is,” Kirumi said, rolling her eyes. “It’s very important to me that you mind your own business, you know.”

Kokichi walked back towards Shuichi and Rantaro, who were both trying to look as if they were paying attention to Tsumugi, but either Rantaro was doing a much better job, or was sincerely interested in it. “Ugh, they’re not listening at all! Shumaaaai, help me out here! Ask Korekiyo for me!” he all but demanded, dragging him out of his seat. Tsumugi didn’t seem to particularly notice or care that her audience was halved. 

“Uh, ask him where he was last night? A-alright… Is this how we’re gonna narrow down subjects?”

“Of course it is- if we can’t get the tapes, we’ll go to the source!” Kokichi exclaimed. “Now, just tell Korekiyo something believable. Remember, he’s the Ultimate Traditional Dancer, so like, be polite and shit!”

Shuichi rolled his eyes a bit. He did remember that one, mostly because picturing the strange grace of the anthropologist he knew as a dancer had struck him as rather fitting. He wasn’t wearing the usual mask, and thankfully wasn’t wearing bright red lipstick either, so that was a good sign he was a bit more comfortable with his own beauty instead of just fixating on that of others. He really hoped he was doing well in this world, honestly. 

“Um- Korekiyo, may I speak to you for a moment?” Shuichi asked, drawing his attention. His beauty was really striking like this, hair drawn up in an intricate bun with lovely combs and pins in it. Ugh, no, stop getting off track, Shuichi, stop being such a useless homosexual, he told himself firmly. 

Korekiyo gave a small chuckle. “What’s wrong, Shuichi, have I captivated you without even taking a step?” Oh, dammit, he was blushing, wasn’t he? Now Kokichi was all annoyed at him, glaring between the two of them with a pout on his face. 

“No, you just look nice today,” Shuichi assured him, biting the inside of his lip, trying to will himself to concentrate. “I- I just wanted to ask you if you were, uh, with anyone last night? I… uh, since I was sick, I didn’t wanna miss anything!”

“You certainly shouldn’t ask me out in front of Kokichi, that just seems needlessly cruel,” Korekiyo said with a sly smile. “Unless this is a proposition to see the both of you? In which case, I would sadly have to decline, as I would rather not be the third party between a beauty and a brat.”

Kokichi made a sound like an angry tea kettle, and dragged Shuichi away. “Excuse us-” he called back to Korekiyo before pulling Shuichi into the hallway. “Shu, what the fuck was that? Wasn’t he like, a serial killer or something in your world? Why the hell would you start going all ‘oh are you seeing anyone’ and shit?”

“Th-that’s not at all what I meant to say!” Shuichi exclaimed, covering his face in embarrassment. “I- I wasn’t sure what to say and it all came out wrong! Besides, I can’t hold that against him, considering that was another world and he seems like he’s doing a lot better here!” 

Kokichi maintained that glare until Shuichi relented with a bit of elaboration. “Ugh, fine, it also probably had something to do with the fact he’s pretty and I got a little distracted. Who doesn’t occasionally have a gay panic- I’ve never seen him like that!”

“I’m pretty too…” Kokichi mumbled under his breath. “I can wear kimonos and kanzashi… Ugh, now you’re getting me all distracted! So far, I’ve pissed off Kirumi and Ryoma, and you’ve flirted with Korekiyo, and we’ve learned nothing except that Tsumugi can’t help us! What do we do now? We need to like, compare stories and shit if we can’t see the security footage to see where everyone was last night, but how do we ask that without looking totally sus!”

“Hm…” An interesting quandary, but had Shuichi the need to ask people for their stories without alerting them to if something was wrong, what would he do? “Well, if I were in your position, I would tell everyone it’s a project related to my detective talent- oh, but they don’t know about that. So that’s not…”

Eyes suddenly filling with an eager light, Kokichi turned back towards the cafeteria. “No, no, you’re onto something,” he said with a nod. “Here-” he shoved a bunch of coins into his hand. “Go to the vending machine over there and buy all the powdered donuts. Then meet me at Kaito’s talent development room. Mine is right across the hall from his.”

“O-okay?” He couldn’t quite follow his plan, but he wasn’t about to say he had a better one. “What are the powdered donuts for?”

“Gonna bribe everyone to come help with food. You’ll understand when you get there, just hurry and get them.” Kokichi ran off before he could explain more. Shuichi, uncertain of what exactly to do, ran over to the vending machine and started putting in the coins and code for the powdered donuts over and over again. By the time he had gotten them all, he wasn’t sure if he could carry them all! This school sure stocked a lot of them, how popular were these things? 

He tried to get the armload out of the vending machine, but found them falling out of his arms as he got them out. Maybe if he used his shirt to help carry them? But, before he could ponder whether it was worth taking his shirt off for this, a familiar voice laughed behind him. “Need some help, Shuichi?”

Kaede had picked up some of the dropped donut packages and was smiling. Shuichi let out a sigh of relief. “Yes, thank you! Kokichi told me to bring all of these to his talent development room.”

“Alright? I’m a bit confused as to what’s going on, but I’ll do my best!” Kaede exclaimed. “Maki left me some note saying Angie had gotten hurt so everyone was abandoning the exorcism, and then I tried to find everyone but they weren’t in the library anymore! Can you explain?”

He was about to, before a chirp of doubt squeaked up in his mind. Kaede could have been late because she’d gone to the library beforehand and not because she was on a morning run, right? He couldn’t trust her right now, as much as he wanted to. He hadn’t even seen Maki’s note, so for all he knew, mentioning the library could have been a dead giveaway. 

So, he couldn’t really explain. He’d just shrug it off. “Not too sure myself,” he lied. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”

Kaede frowned a little, as if she could sense his hesitation, but nodded. “Alright. Kokichi never lets anyone in his talent room, so I can’t say I know why he needs all these powdered donuts.”

“He did not explain that part,” Shuichi mused. “Uh, is this the place?”

The door was cracked open, and all of their classmates from the cafeteria were gathered, sitting either on the floor or on hefty black tables. Kaede’s eyes widened a bit. “Why does the Child Caretaker’s lab look like… well, a lab!”

“A forensics lab,” Shuichi muttered under his breath. He’d recognize this kind of place anywhere. It was certainly a lot different from his mostly cozy Ultimate Detective lab, but still definitely fit the theme. “Let’s see where he’s going with this.”

He and Kaede set the donuts down on one of the tables, where Miu was sitting and staring blankly at Kokichi, who had a whiteboard in the front of the room. Her blank stare turned to an excited grin as they set them down. “Sweet, there’s the promised snacks!”

“Yep! Like I promised, you guys help me test my fancy new toy, and you’ll get donuts!” He pulled out a little clip that looked like it was meant to go on someone’s finger. “The all new Ultra Portable Polygraph!”

Shuichi was… unamused. He’d seen polygraphs before, and not only were they bullshit, but they looked nothing like that. That thing was probably just a pulse oximeter from the looks of it, but everyone else seemed convinced. 

“Why do you have a polygraph, anyways?” Ryoma asked. “Aren’t you a babysitter?”

Kokichi giggled happily. “Weeeell, lemme show you, and I’ll demonstrate its functioning while I’m at it!” He clipped the thing on his finger. “I am the Ultimate Child Caregiver.”

The device beeped- Shuichi was pretty sure that he’d pressed a button on it to make it do so. “See? That’s a lie! My real talent is… Ultimate Detective!”

He didn’t make it beep that time. Everyone seemed pretty impressed. “Noooow, as the Ultimate Detective, I need to test my little friend here, so I’m gonna ask you all a series of questions I need you to answer truthfully! Who wants to go first?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took a while to get out! I had some school stuff and other one shots I wanted to work on. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure that's everyone's ultimate talent revealed finally!


End file.
